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Constitutional  Government 
in  Spain 


A  Sketch 


BY 

J.  L.  M.  CURRY,  LL.D. 

LATE  MINISTER  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  IN  SPAIN 


tJNiVEKSITY 


NEW    YORK 

HARPER  &  BROTHERS,  FRANKLIN  SQUARE 

1889 


Jf^ 


gin 
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Copyright,  1889,  by  Harper  &  Brothers. 
All  rights  retervtd. 

/^6  /^f 


LOVINGLY 

fi  ©etrfcate  Wb  ILfttle  Volume 

TO 

MARY  WORTHAM  THOMAS  CURRY 

On  (he  twenty-first  anriiversary  of  our  marriage.  For 
whatever  I  may  have  accomplished  during  this  nearly  quarter 
of  a  century^  for  any  success  ifi  my  mission  at  Madrid^  I  am. 
very  largely  indebted  to  her  unwearied  patience^  to  her  wise 
and  thoughtful  helpfidness. 


PEEFACE. 


A  STUDY  of  Spain,  her  manners,  politics,  insti- 
tutions, and  people,  was  a  necessary  part  of  my 
duties  while  residing  in  Madrid.  What  inter- 
ested me  may  give  some  pleasure  to  such  of  my 
countrymen  as  may  honor  this  little  book  with 
a  perusal.  American  writers  have  done  much 
to  familiarize  intelligent  persons  with  the  ro- 
mance, the  history,  the  literature,  the  art,  the 
scenery  of  S2)ain.  I  have  sought  rather  to  trace 
the  history  of  an  idea,  and  to  help  the  student 
of  the  science  of  government.  Only  so  much 
of  history  has  been  given  as  was  thought  essen- 
tial to  a  better  understanding  of  the  progress  of 
constitutional  and  free  government. 

J.  L.  M.  C. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

Evolution  of  Constitutional  Government  Slow.  —  Experi- 
ments Tentative. — The  Sketch  helpful  in  Appreciating  and 
Guarding  our  Republic. — Comparative  Politics. — A  Little 
History  to  link  Transition  Periods Page  1 

CHAPTER  11. 

The  Constitution  of  1812. — Some  of  its  Features. — Struggle 
for  Existence. — The  Constitution  of  1837 6 

CHAPTER   III. 

Accession  of  Isabella. — Troublous  Condition  of  the  Country. 
—Constitution  of  1845.- — Insurrections. — Flight  of  Isabel- 
la.—  Constitution  of  1869.  —  Great  Advance  in  Political 
Ideas. — Religious  Freedom , 17 

CHAPTER  IV. 

Choice  of  a  King. — Candidates  and  the  Elected. — Effect  of 
calling  Leopold  to  the  Throne. — Franco-Prussian  War. — 
Election  of  Amadeo. — Subsequent  Abdication 31 

CHAPTER  V. 

Difficulties  of  the  Situation. — Establishment  of  the  Republic. 
— Recognition  by  the  United  States 47 

CHAPTER  VI. 

Presidents  and  Policy. — Overthrow  of  the  Republic. — Rapid 
Changes 58 


viii  Contents, 

CHAPTER  VII. 

Causes  of  the  Fall. — Account  of  the  Presidents. — Abrupt 
Transition.— The  Army.— False  Hopes. — Madrid.. Pa^e  66 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

Pronunciamento  for  Alfonso 84 

CHAPTER  IX. 

Constitution  of  1876. — Freedom  of  Worship  in  Spain 88 

CHAPTER  X. 

Cabinet  Government 96 

CHAPTER  XI. 

Progress  of  Liberal  Institutions  in  Spain. — Platform  of  Lib- 
eral and  Conservative  Parties 100 

CHAPTER  XII. 

Policy  of  the  Republican  Party 114 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

Reforms  Needed. — Hope  for  the  Future 127 


APPENDIX  A. 

Sketches  of  Fernando,  Leopold,  Duke  of  Montpensier,  and 
Amadeo 135 

APPENDIX  B. 

Sketches  of  Christina,  Isabel,  Alfonso  XII.,  the  Infantas,  the 
Queen-regent,  and  Alfonso  XIII 150 

APPENDIX  C. 
Present  Aspect  of  Spain 170 

APPENDIX  D. 

The  Acquisition  of  Florida 186 


UNITEKSITY 
A  SKETCH 

OF 

CONSTITUTIONAL  GOVERNMENT 

AND  OF 

THE   REPUBLIC. 


CHAPTER  I. 

Evolution  of  Constitutional  Government  Slow.  —  Experi- 
ments Tentative. — The  Sketch  helpful  in  Appreciating  and 
Guarding  our  Republic. — Comparative  Politics. — A  Little 
History  to  link  Transition  Periods. 

In  this  sketch,  Constitution  is  not  used  in 
a  vague  or  general  sense,  but  as  embodying, 
in  written  form  or  exact  definition,  the  or- 
ganic law  of  the  State  as  contradistinguished 
from  prescription,  statutes,  or  royal  decrees. 

The    history   of  the    establishment    and 

growth  of  a  constitutional  government  is 

not  the  recital  of  a  naked  abstraction,  but 

an  account  of  human  progress  with  the  fa- 

1 


2     A  Sketch  of  Constitutional  Government 

voring  or  hindering  motives  which  spring 
from  the  nobler  or  the  meaner  nature  of 
man.  Such  a  government  is  no  sudden  cre- 
ation nor  easy  achievement.  It  costs  experi- 
ments, failures,  sacrifices,  revolutions,  wars. 
The  people  fail  to  realize  how  reluctantly 
privilege  relaxes  its  grasp,  or  traditional 
wrongs  and  usurpations  yield  to  the  de- 
mands for  liberty,  equality,  and  fraternity. 
The  excesses  of  the  French  Revolution,  so 
commonly  used  to  point  censures  of  popular 
rule,  had  their  occasion  in  the  violence  of 
popular  passion,  but  their  cause  was  in  the 
tyrannies  and  corruptions  of  government  and 
aristocracy  and  Church.  The  most  harmful 
and  indefensible  of  all  usurpations,  a  State 
religion,  contests  every  inch  in  the  struggle 
for  freedom  and  conscience,  and  rallies  and 
conquers  even  when  the  victory  seemed  to 
have  been  won  by  the  Opposition.  A  debate 
in  the  House  of  Commons  in  1886  on  dis- 
establishment in  Wales,  conducted  with  zeal 
and  ability,  presented  the  singular  spectacle 
of  an  entire  ignoring  of  the  real  question. 
The  unanswerable  argument,  as  drawn  from 
the  teachings  of  Christ,  from  inalienable  nat- 
ural right,  from  freedom  of  worship,  from 


in  Spain  and  of  the  Republic.  3 

individuality  of  religious  duties,  from  the 
illegitimacy  and  tyranny  of  governmental 
interference  with  what  pertains  exclusively 
to  personal  judgment,  was  npt  enforced  and  i     y^ 
was  scarcely  alluded  to.   So  in  Spain  the  bat- 
tle for  constitutional  government  has  been 
waged  for  eighty  years  in  the  face  of  the 
most  formidable  odds  and  the  most  persist- 
ent and  virulent  antagonism^    In  this  period 
there  has  been  a  litter  of  constitutions :  that    { 
of  the  Cortes  of  Cadiz  of  1812 ;  that  of  Chris- 
tina of  1836 ;  that  of  Isabel  of  1837 ;  an-    , 
other  of  Isabel  of  1845;  that  of  Prim  and    \ 
others  in  1869  ;  that  of  1873,  and  finally  that     | 
of  1876.    New  constitutions  have  superseded     ) 
the  older,  to  be  in  turn  disregarded  or  over-    [ 
thrown  by  the  favorite  of  the  hour.    It  has 
been  too  often  true  that  a  body  without     ' 
delegated  authority  therefor   has   made  a 
constitution  which  has  been  suspended  or 
violated  at  an  early  day,  and  the  govern- 
ment has  been  arbitrarily  administered  in 
utter  disregard  of  grants  and  limitations. 
The  history  of  these  tentative  and  ephem- 
eral constitutions,  superficially  considered, 
is  adapted  to  provoke  ridicule,  but  a  closer 
examination  will  discover  an  undercurrent    . 


4     A  Sketch  of  Constitutional  Government 

\  moving  onward,  with  many  eddies  and  ob- 
structions, towards  a  freer  government  and 
a  better  definition  and  a  more  stable  guar- 

•  anty  of  popular  rights.  A  sketch  of  some 
of  the  constitutions  and  of  the  Republic, 
with  some  details  connected  with  their  gen- 
esis and  workings,  may  serve  to  make  us 
more  charitable  towards  those  who,  in  the 
face  of  almost  insurmountable  obstacles,  have 
been  striving  to  imitate  our  example  and 
secure  for  their  unhappy  country  the  rights 
and  liberties  w^hich  have  made  ours  so  great 

i  and  prosperous. 

L,  If  history  be  philosophy  teaching  by  ex- 
ample, an  acquaintance  with  the  experience 
of  fellow-men,  closely  allied  to  us  by  many 
ties,  in  their  oft-baffled  struggles  to  throw 
off  oppression  and  attain  national  and  per- 
sonal freedom,  should  awaken  within  us 
deeper  gratitude  for  what  we  enjoy  and 
more  constant  vigilance  against  the  ever-re- 
curring tendencies  to  injustice  and  wrong. 
For  the  elucidation  of  constitutional  and 
political  progress  it  has  been  found  neces- 
sary to  give  the  contemporaneous  history. 
Perhaps  too  much  has  been  given,  but  it  has 
not  been  easy  to  resist  the  temptation  to  give 


171  Spain  and  of  the  Republic.  5 

more  when  one  is  writing  of  a  country  where 
truth  outruns  fiction.  The  history  of  a  peo- 
ple and  the  government  of  a  people  are  too 
inseparably  allied  to  be  understood  apart. 
Stubb's  '^  Select  Charters,"  illustrating  both 
English  and  American  constitutional  history, 
has  aided  students  in  the  study  of  compara- 
tive constitutions.  What  Spain  has  done  in 
civil  polity  in  this  century  is  valuable  in  it- 
self, and  relatively  as  showing  development 
in  government  and  throwing  light  on  politi- 
cal science.  Historical  facts  are  introduced, 
therefore,  to  make  the  discussions  more  real 
and  concrete.  One  wishes  to  see  how  peo- 
ple have  grown,  how  things  have  been 
brought  about,  and  what  forces,  at  different 
periods  in  the  same  country,  have  been  suc- 
cessful in  the  struggle  for  personal  and  con- 
stitutional liberty. 


6     A  Sketch  of  Constitutional  Government 


CHAPTER  II. 

The  Constitution  of  1812.- 

for  Existence. — The  Constitution  of  1837. 

The  Peninsular  wars,  growing  out  of  the 
restless  ambition  of  Napoleon  and  the  weak- 
ness of  Charles  IV.,  threw  Spain  into  anar- 
chy. Charles  abdicated  and  abandoned  the 
country.  Ferdinand  VII.  was  called  to  the 
throne  in  1808,  the  same  year  in  which  Jo- 
seph Bonaparte,^  as  a  part  of  the  policy  to 

*  Dr.  Lieber,  who  knew  and  corresponded  with  Joseph  Bo- 
naparte when  he  lived  at  Bordentown,  New  Jersey,  says  he 
was  an  affable  and  lovable  man,  kind  and  gentle,  and  fond  of 
relating  occurrences  connected  with  his  checkered  life.  In 
the  Life  and  Letters  of  Lieber  is  published  a  letter  of  the  ex- 
king,  July  1,  1829,  giving  an  ingenious  defence  of  Napoleon- 
ism.  As  a  justification  of  his  brother's  singular  method  of 
securing  "constitutionalism"  and  "universal  equality,"  Jo- 
seph wrote  :  "The  English  Cabinet,  in  rekindling  the  war, 
made  the  continuance  of  this  despotism  a  necessity,  for  Napo- 
leon was  forced  to  use  every  means  of  reconciling  the  gov- 
ernments of  Continental  Europe  with  France.  Everything 
that  Napoleon  did — his  estabhshraent  of  an  unfeudal  nobility, 
his  family  relations,  his  Legion  of  Honor,  his  new  kingdoms — 
everything  was  forced  upon  him.     The  English  obliged  him 


in  Spain  and  of  the  Republic.  7 

create  a  Napoleonic  dynasty,  was  proclaimed 
king.  Overawed  and  deceived  by  Napoleon, 
Ferdinand  also  soon  deserted  Spain.  By 
these  compulsory  abdications,  extorted  at 
Bayonne,  Spain  was  left  without  legitimate 
authority.  Local  and  general  juntas  were 
irregularly  appointed,  but  they  failed  to  com- 
mand the  confidence  of  the  Spaniards  or  se- 
cure the  advantage  of  union.  To  redress 
grievances  and  provide  for  the  public  de- 
fence, a  Cortes  was  summoned  and  met  Sep- 
tember, 1810,  at  Cadiz,  almost  the  only  town 
in  the  territory  unoccupied  by  foreign  sol-, 
diers.  Its  composition  was  very  popular,  but 
it  was  not  a  revolutionary  body.  The  usual 
civil  power  having  been  dispersed  or  destroy- 
ed by  conquest,  the  Cortes  was  convened  to 
give  a  regular  government  and  mamtain  na- 
tional independence.  As  a  permanent  power 
of  nationality,  it  undertook  the  public  de- 
fence, continued  the  war  against  the  French, 
made  provision  for  the  absence  of  the  execu- 
tive head,  took  away  the  prerogatives  of  the 
Crown,  and  converted  absolutism  into  a  con- 
to  do  everything  that  he  did  by  compelling  him  to  put  himself 
fnto  apparent  harmony  with  the  nations  he  had  conquered  and 
wished  to  secure  ajrainst  the  fascinations  of  Endand." 


8     A  /Sketch  of  Constitutional  Government 

stitutional  government.  In  1812  this  extraor- 
dinary Cortes  promulgated  a  constitution, 
which  was  received  as  the  fundamental  law 
wherever  the  French  arms  did  not  stifle  the 
public  will.  It  was  the  first  of  a  series  in  the 
long  struggle  to  overthrow  kingly  misrule, 
and  to  define  the  rights  and  liberties  of  the 
Spanish  people.  The  bold  and  hazardous 
step,  a  justifiable  protest  against  Bourbon- 
ism,  was  in  imitation  of  American  example. 
It  declares  that  "  the  sovereignty  resides  es- 
sentially in  the  nation ;  and  for  the  same  rea- 
son, the  right  of  establishing  the  fundament- 
al laws  belongs  exclusively  to  the  nation." 
Misled  by  the  sophisms  which  misled  Frank- 
lin, and  which  control  the  opinions  of  some 
Spanish  and  English  and  French  radicals  of 
the  present  day,  who  advocate  the  effacement 
of  a  second  body,  the  makers  of  the  Constitu- 
tion provided  for  only  one  legislative  assem- 
bly. Castelar,  in  1873,  said  of  the  instrument 
that  "  it  formed  the  democratic  monarchy ;" 
in  other  words,  it  subordinated  the  throne  to 
the  law,  and  partially  reasserted  the  truth 
embodied  in  our  Declaration  of  Indepen- 
dence, that  governments  derive  their  just 
powers  from  the  consent  of  the  governed. 


((university  yj 
in  Spain  and  of  the  J^epuhlie,  9 

This  constitution  was  overthrown  by  Ferdi- 
nand at  his  restoration  in  1814.  It  was 
tiirust  aside  by  royal  usurpation,  backed  by 
military  force,  without  a  pretext  of  legal  or 
civil  forms.  In  1820  it  was  restored  by  the 
army  assembled  at  Cadiz  to  be  embarked 
against  the  revolted  American  colonies.  The 
j>eople  sustained  the  action  of  the  soldiers, 
and  the  King  even  gave  his  assent. 

This  first  essay  at  formulating  an  organic 
law,  and  introducing  the  popular  will  as  a 
substantive  factor  in  the  government  of 
Spain,  deserves  a  fuller  consideration.  The 
articles  of  the  Constitution  are  distributed 
under  ten  heads,  treating  of  the  nation,  the 
territory,  the  people,  the  King,  religion,  the 
tribunals  of  justice,  the  interior  government 
of  towns  and  provinces,  the  taxes,  public  in- 
struction, the  army,  etc.  The  article  on  the 
organization  and  attributes  of  the  Cortes  de- 
clares that  the  sovereignty  resides  essentially 
in  the  nation,  and  to  it  belongs  exclusively 
the  right  to  establish  fundamental  laws,  and 
to  adopt  the  form  of  government  which  may 
be  most  expedient.  The  functions  of  execu- 
tive power  were  distributed  into  seven  de- 
partments or  ministries,  and  this  was  the 


10    A  Sketch  of  Constitutional  Gover^iment 

origin  of  parliamentary  government  in  Spain ; 
but  a  further  account  will  be  given  more  con- 
veniently when  the  Constitution  of  1876  is/ 
considered.  The  judicial  department  was  de- 
fined and  its  duties  mapped  out.  The  gov- 
ernment of  the  towns  was  intrusted  to  the 
inhabitants,  and  that  of  the  provinces  to  pro- 
vincial deputations.  The  deputies  exercising 
this  local  control  are  chosen  for  four  years 
under  certain  restrictions,  and  are  presided 
•over  by  the  Governor.  This  officer,  while^ 
looking  after  the  interests  of  the  province, 
represents  at  the  same  time  the  views  of  the 
Government  at  ]\[adrid  which  appoints  him, 
and  in  all  elections  uses  his  influence  openly 
and  without  much  scruple  in  behalf  of  the 
ministerial  candidates.  The  deputation  is 
the  organ  of  the  wishes  and  needs  of  the 
province,  and  its  sphere  of  duties  embraces 
moral  and  material  interests,  the  construc- 
tion of  public  works,  the  establishment  of 
schools,  charitable  institutions,  etc.  The  Con- 
stitution enunciated  general  principles  in  ref- 
erence to  the  right  of  petition  and  freedom 
of  the  press,  and  declared  all  taxes  illegal  un- 
less ordered  by  the  Cortes.  To  prevent  en- 
croachments during  the  vacation,  the  action 


^V  Spain  and  of  the  Republic,  11 

of  the  executive  power  was  to  be  called  in 
question  and  rigidly  examined  at  the  begin- 
ning of  each  session. 

Provision  was  made  for  the  introduction 
of  trial  by  jury  in  case  it  should  be  deemed 
advisable;  but  this  feature  of  English  and 
American  jurisprudence,  although  partially 
recognized  in  the  Constitution  of  1837,  has 
not  yet  been  incorporated  into  Spanish  law. 
The  Constitution  had  a  preliminary  discourse, 
and  was  marred  by  minute  details  and  other 
defects.  It  was  framed  under  most  adverse 
circumstances.  Ferdinand  was  in  captivity. 
Contemporaneous  with  this  effort  for  polit- 
ical regeneration  was  the  terrible  struggle 
for  national  independence  and  national  ex- 
istence. The  patriotism,  sagacity,  ability,  and 
courage  of  the  Constitutionalist  leaders  were 
confronted  by  centuries  of  ignorance,  abso- 
lutism, and  repression  of  thought.  They  de- 
serve the  gratitude  of  Spain  and  the  homage 
of  all  lovers  of  constitutional  government. 
The  battle  for  freedom  is  often  baffled.  Fer- 
dinand, "although  he  had  committed  him- 
self to  the  Constitution  by  every  variety  of 
gratuitous  and  supererogatory  perjury,"  ea- 
gerly violated  his  oaths,  and   used  all  his 


12    A  Sketch  of  Constitutional  Goverriment 

power  and  influence  to  crush  the  spirit  of 
the  people. 

At  the  Congress  of  Aix-la-Chapelle,  Octo- 
ber, 1818,  at  which  Austria,  Eussia,  Great 
Britain,  France,  and  Spain  were  represented, 
projects  were  entertained  of  engaging  the 
European  AUiance  in  actual  military  opera- 
tions against  the  South  Americans,  and  a 
plan  for  restoring  to  Spanish  authority  the 
Colonies,  warring  for  their  independence,  was 
matured ;  but  it  failed  because  Great  Britain 
refused  to  accede  to  the  condition  of  employ- 
ing force  for  its  accomplishment.  ''  The 
Powers,"  as  the  sovereigns  called  themselves 
in  assuming  the  guardianship  of  Europe, 
treated  the  restoration  of  the  Spanish  Con- 
stitution as  a  crime  demanding  their  inter- 
vention, and,  as  Nesselrode  declared,  '"  the 
example  of  an  expiatory  act  to  the  people 
of  the  two  hemispheres,"  notwithstanding 
Eussia,  by  solemn  treaty,  had  previously  ac- 
knowledged "  the  legitimacy  of  the  general 
and  extraordinary  assembly  of  the  Cortes 
held  at  Cadiz,  as  well  as  the  Constitution 
^vhich  they  have  decreed  and  sanctioned." 
Assembled  at  Troppau  in  1820,  these  sover- 
eigns included  the  Spanish  revolution  among 


in  Spain  and  of  the  Republic,  13 

the  objects  of  their  condemnation,  although 
an  eminent  English  contemporary  statesman 
said  that  there  never  was  an  extensive  polit- 
ical change  attended  with  less  violence  or 
bloodshed.  This  Holy  Alliance,  professing 
to  act  in  the  name  and  under  the  protection 
of  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost,  asserted  its 
right  to  interfere  in  every  case  where  new 
institutions  were  established  not  consistent 
with  "  the  monarchical  principle,  which  rec- 
ognizes no  institution  as  legitimate  that  does 
not  flow  spontaneously  from  the  monarch." 
This  was  tantamount  to  an  alliance  in  de- 
fence of  the  hereditary  houses  of  Europe,  and 
against  the  right  of  a  people  to  the  best  pos- 
sible administration  of  their  affairs.  In  1822, 
with  the  express  sanction  and  approbation 
of  the  other  States,  and  in  furtherance  and 
execution  of  the  system  which  the  potentates 
at  Troppau  had  jointly  announced  as  the 
rule  of  their  conduct,  and  to  put  a  stop  to 
what  they  termed  "moral  contagion,"  and 
to  arrest  the  demoralizing  influence  of  "a 
national  assembly  Avhich  ventured  to  think 
for  itself  and  consult  the  interests  of  its  coun- 
try," France  invaded  Spain,  and  by  armed 
intervention  put  down  the  Constitution  of 


14    A  Sketch  of  Constitutional  Governmeyit 

1812.^  This  forcible  repression  at  the  bid- 
ding of  the  Holy  Alliance,  invited  by  Ferdi- 
nand and  the  Spanish  aristocracy,  illustrated 
the  adage  of  the  return  of  curses.  Canning's 
South  American  policy  was  England's  re- 
sponse to  this  French  invasion.  He  rested 
his  recognition  of  the  South  American  re- 
publics on  the  unjustifiable  pretensions  of 
Spain  and  the  selfish  ingratitude  of  her  rulers. 
When  France,  by  virtue  of  the  decree  of 
the  Duke  of  Angouleme,  signed  at  Andujar 
August  8, 1823,  assumed  superiority  over  all 
Spanish  authorities,  and  threw  an  army  of 
one  hundred  thousand  men  into  the  country 
to  control  her  domestic  politics  and  establish 
the  Bourbon  king,  England  sought  to  check- 
mate the  movement  by  recognizing  the  inde- 
pendence of  Mexico,  Columbia,  and  Buenos 
Ayres  ;  and  Canning,  in  language  which  has 
become  classic  in  diplomacy,  uttered  the 
boast,  "  I  called  the  New  World  into  exist- 
ence to  redress  the  balance  of  the  Old." 

With  the  death  of  Ferdinand,  October  2, 
1833,  the  traditional  monarchy  may  be  said 

*  Edinburgh  Review^  vols,  xxxviii.  and  xl. ;  Circulars  of 
Allied  Powers,  1820  and  1821 ;  Annual  Register,  1809;  and 
Scboell,  120,  543. 


in  Spain  and  of  the  EepiihUc.  15 

to  have  fallen.  His  widow,  Christina,  became 
regent,  and,  to  save  the  throne  for  her  daugh- 
ter, Isabel  II.,  against  the  claims  and  machi- 
nations of  Don  Carlos  and  the  reactionary 
politicians,  she  reluctantly  allied  herself  with 
the  Liberal  party.  As  the  result  of  this  asso- 
ciation, a  kind  of  codification  by  a  royal  stat- 
ute was  made,  which  is  often  cited  as  a  con- 
stitution; but  its  creation  of  a  chamber  of 
aristocratic  peers  and  a  chamber  of  procura- 
dores^  to  be  selected  mainly  by  the  corpora- 
tions of  cities  and  towns,  was  regarded  as  a 
mockery  of  representation,  furnishing  no  ad- 
equate security  against  misrule  and  oppres- 
sion. Mariana,  the  historian,  contemptuous- 
ly dismisses  it :  "  No  limit  of  sovereign  pow- 
er is  sought  in  it,  no  guaranty  of  individu- 
al liberty,  nothing  relative  to  the  judicial 
order. " 

In  1836  the  soldiers  compelled  Christina  to 
sign  a  paper  recognizing  the  Constitution  of 
1812,  and  she  afterwards  proclaimed  it,  giv- 
ing to  Spaniards  an  additional  reason  for 
heeding  the  injunction  not  to  put  trust  in 
princes.  This  Avas  but  preliminary  to  a  meet- 
ing of  the  Constituent  Cortes  in  1837,  which 
adopted  another  organic  law  that  had  the 


16    A  Sketch  of  Constitutional  Goveimment 

prospect  of  permanency  in  the  fact  that  it 
had  the  sanction  of  the  Moderados  and  Pro^ 
gresistas,  the  two  divisions  of  the  Liberal 
party. 

The  Constitution  of  1837  was  less  demo- 
cratic than  its  predecessor,  and  therefore,  in 
the  opinion  of  the  nobility,  better  adapted 
to  the  capabilities  of  the  people  and  the  in- 
terests of  the  nation.  It  did  not  depart  from 
the  principle  that  the  people  Avere  the  ulti- 
mate source  of  all  political  power,  and  it  re- 
tained the  responsibility  of  the  Ministry. 
It  differed  from  the  Constitution  of  1812  in 
having  two  co-legislative  bodies  of  senators 
and  deputies,  the  members  of  each  chamber 
having  a  different  mode  of  selection  or  con- 
stituency, thus  preserving  the  advantage  of 
concurrence  and  of  a  check  on  hasty  or  un- 
wise legislation.  Suffrage  was  restricted, 
and  in  the  Crown  was  lodged  an  absolute 
veto. 


in  Spain  and  of  the  Republic.  17 


CHAPTER  III. 

Accession  of  Isabella. — Troublous  Condition  of  the  Country. 
—  Constitution  of  1845. — Insurrections. — Flight  of  Isabel- 
la.—  Constitution  of  1869.  —  Great  Advance  in  Political 
Ideas. — Religious  Freedom. 

On  the  death  of  Ferdinand,  and  during 
the  minority  of  Isabella  II.,  the  wicked  Chris- 
tina became  regent.  In  consequence  of  a 
popular  outbreak,  she  renounced,  in  1840,  the 
regency,  and  retired  to  France.  At  that 
time  the  Government  was  Liberal,  drawing 
its  power  in  part  from  the  popular  will,  but 
chiefly  from  the  military  influence  of  its 
head.  General  Espartero,  in  whose  honor  as 
a  pacificator  an  equestrian  statue  was  erect- 
ed, in  1887,  in  Madrid.  The  question  of  a 
regent  excited  much  discussion  and  dissen- 
sion, whether  there  should  be  one  or  three, 
and  who  should  be  chosen.  The  Cortes,  in 
joint  meeting  in  the  Hall  of  the  Senate,  by  a 
vote  of  153  to  136  decided  on  a  single  re- 
gent, and  by  ballot  elected  Espartero,  giving 
him  179  votes.  On  May  10th  he  took  the 
2 


18   ^1  Sketch  of  Constitutional  Government 

prescribed  oaths  and  presented  himself  be- 
fore the  Queen  at  the  palace.  It  has  been 
noted  as  the  first  instance  of  the  kind  in 
a  monarchical  government  that  when  the 
Queen  in  person,  in  December,  opened  the 
Cortes,  the  regent  read,  in  her  name,  a 
speech  which  departed  from  the  custom  of 
stating  only  vague  generalities.  Years  of 
civil  war  were  necessary  to  decide  the  suc- 
cession between  Don  Carlos,  the  brother, 
and  Isabel,  the  daughter,  of  Ferdinand.  The 
unhappy  and  disastrous  reign  of  the  Queen 
was  a  poor  compensation  for  all  it  cost  to 
seat  her  upon  the  throne.  The  memory  of 
that  dreadful  conflict  and  the  vicissitudes 
through  which  the  country  passed  seem  to 
justify  the  remark  made  in  1842  by  Wash- 
ington Irving,  our  Minister,  that  '*•  Spain  is  a 
country  accustomed  to  violent  remedies,  and 
seems  now  and  tlien  to  require  a  political 
Sangrado."  The  turbulent  population  was 
instigated  to  frequent  outbreaks  and  insur- 
rections. The  Government,  like  some  mys- 
terious persons  in  every  community,  had  an 
inscrutable  secret  of  subsisting  without  visi- 
ble means,  for  resources  Avere  anticipated, 
and  the  treasury  was  habitually  empty.   The 


in  Spain  and  of  the  EepuUic.  19 

licentiousness  of  the  press  had  no  bounds. 
Patriotic  feehng  was  lost  in  the  violence  of 
factions.  Sedition  was  fed  by  the  lavish  dis- 
tribution of  money.  An  attempt  at  the  ab- 
duction of  the  Queen  came  nigh  being  suc- 
cessful. Ministries  were  fickle  and  fleeting. 
The  capital  was  besieged.  A  revolutionary 
government  was  established.  Espartero  fled, 
and  the  idol  became  an  exile.  On  JSTovem- 
ber  8,  1843,  the  Queen  at  thirteen  was  de- 
clared of  age,  and  was  sworn  in  as  reign- 
ing sovereign,  notwithstanding  the  Constitu- 
tion fixed  fourteen  years  as  the  term  of  the 
royal  majority.  The  doubtful  expedient 
brought  no  calm  to  the  perturbed  country. 
Discord  soon  appeared  in  the  palace  and 
spread  into  the  streets.  Eejoicings  at  the 
accession  were  soon  followed  by  factious 
clamors  and  angry  tumults,  and  by  conspir- 
acies to  bring  a  constitutional  monarchy  into 
disrepute,  and  restore  absolutism.  The  Queen 
became  an  object  of  party  odium,  was  charged 
with  deceit  and  falsehood,  and  with  being  a 
mere  manikin  in  the  hands  of  designing 
courtiers. 

These   complications    and   disorders,  and 
others  of  equal  seriousness,  were  not  favor- 


20    A  Sketch  of  Constitutional  Government 

able  to  improved  government,  but  the  Cor- 
tes, under  the  influence  of  Narvaez,  and  shel- 
tered by  the  principle  of  the  omnipotence  of 
Parliament,  and  without  special  authoriza- 
tion, undertook  to  reform  the  Constitution 
of  1837.  At  the  close  of  the  Cortes,  on  May 
22,  1845,  the  Queen,  in  person,  promulgated 
the  reformed  constitution.  "Washington  Irv- 
ing makes  this  comment :  "  Scoffed  at  by 
Absolutists  and  Progresistas,  it  is  an  i^stru- 
ment  which  gives  satisfaction  to  no  one,  for 
its  very  devisers  consider  it  a  compromise 
between  their  consciences  and  interests,  with 
which  they  vainly  hope  to  beguile  the  peo- 
ple. I  have  forborne  of  late  to  attempt  to 
trace  the  tortuous  course  of  Spanish  politics, 
where  everything  is  perplexed  with  mystery 
and  intrigue,  where  even  those  in  power  who 
have  good  intentions  find  themselves  over- 
reached or  undermined  by  adverse  influ- 
ences." A  very  able  American  lawyer  has 
remarked  of  this  instrument  that  it  did  not 
surround  the  exercise  of  absolute  dominion 
by  the  powers  that  be  with  any  insurmount- 
able barriers.  To  almost  every  right  secured 
to  the  citizen  there  is  attached  a  significant 
clause,  which  has  the  real  efi*ect  of  setting 


in  Spain  and  of  the  Repuhlic.  21 

the  whole  matter  at  sea.  For  instance,  a 
Spaniard  may  print  and  publish  his  ideas 
freely,  hut  with  subjection  to  the  laws.  So  as 
to  right  of  petition,  asylum  of  domicile,  per- 
sonal liberty,  etc.  The  protection  is  depend- 
ent on  the  temper  of  the  law-making  de- 
partment. By  this  constitution,  which  has 
no  jury  clause,  as  had  those  of  1812  and 
1837,  the  senators  were  nominated  by  the 
Crown  for  life,  and  were  to  be  taken  from 
certain  functionaries  or  grandees  enjoying 
a  fixed  income  from  land  or  other  stable 
sources.  In  1857  it  was  provided  that  the 
dignity  of  senators  should  be  hereditary  in 
the  families  of  grandees,  upon  condition  of 
the  requisite  income ;  and  to  secure  this  prop- 
erty qualification  the  entail  of  estates  was 
permitted.  In  1864  a  new  ministry  succeeded 
in  carrying  a  law  by  which,  in  principle,  the 
hereditary  right  of  grandees  to  have,  under 
certain  conditions,  a  seat  in  the  Senate  was 
abolished,  and  thus  re-established,  in  this  par- 
ticular, the  Constitution  of  1845. 

In  January,  1866,  occurred  an  insurrection 
headed  by  General  Prim,  a  leading  officer  of 
the  army,  which,  failing,  caused  his  tempo- 
rary exile.     In  June  there  originated  in  the 


22    A  Sketch  of  Constitutional  Government 

barrack  of  San  Gil,  a  few  hundred  yards 
from  the  palace,  a  more  serious  revolt,  which 
extended  over  a  great  part  of  Madrid.  In 
October  of  the  same  year  the  Ministry,  in  a 
public  proclamation,  alleged  as  a  justifica- 
tion for  an  autocratic  exercise  of  power,  that 
"  revolutionary  tendencies  constituted  an  im- 
posing organism  with  dangerous  pretensions ; 
that  a  rebellion  adverse  to  the  fundamental 
institutions  of  the  country  and  the  dynasty 
of  Isabella,  such  as  had  never  been  seen  in 
Spain,  had  obtained  possession  of  important 
municipalities,  and  triumphed  in  the  deputa- 
tions from  all  the  provinces,"  and  that  it  was 
necessary  to  dissolve  the  municipalities  and 
renew  the  provincial  deputations.  As  thes^ 
"reforms"  could  not  be  effected  without 
"  restoring  the  systematic  fitness  of  different 
points  of  law,"  the  Government,  by  a  decree 
"  under  the  royal  rubric,"  abrogated  the  laws 
on  the  organization  and  administration  of 
the  municipalities  and  the  provinces  "  until 
the  approbation  of  the  Cortes  should  be  ob- 
tained." By  this  arbitrary  assumption  Spain 
was  under  as  complete  a  despotism  as  ex- 
isted in  the  neighboring  empire  of  Morocco. 
The  dissatisfaction  at  such  maladministra- 


in  Spain  and  of  the  Republic,  23 

tion,  such  abuses  in  the  government,  and  the 
thinly  disguised  immoralities  of  the  Queen, 
soon  found  expression  in  audible  murmurs 
and  severe  criticism.  These  verbal  protests 
were  followed  by  machinations  for  the  over- 
throw or  control  of  a  sovereign  subject  to 
ambitious  priests  and  a  venal  coterie.  Two 
exiles,  Marshal  Serrano  and  Marshal  Prim, 
united  with  Admiral  Topete  at  Cadiz,  and 
began  a  revolution  which  soon  had  the  sym- 
pathy and  co-operation  of  a  large  part  of  the 
army  and  the  navy.  A  provisional  revolu- 
tionary junta  of  forty-one  persons  —  a  few 
others,  notably  Sagasta  and  Martos,  were 
afterwards  added  —  was  appointed,  which 
signed  decrees  and  orders  having  the  force 
and  effect  of  laws.  In  less  than  a  month 
Francisco  Serrano  was  authorized  by  the 
junta  to  form  a  temporary  ministry  to  rule 
the  country  until  the  Cortes  should  meet. 

The  defeat  of  the  royal  troops  near  Alco- 
lea  prevented  the  return  of  Isabella  to  Ma- 
drid, and  on  September  30,  1868,  she  fled 
across  the  border  into  France.  Driven  from 
power  and  exiled,  almost  without  resistance, 
remonstrance,  or  regret,  the  fall  of  the  Bour- 
bons finds  its  only  parallel  in  Spanish  his- 


24   A  Sketch  of  Co7istUutional  Goveriiment 

tory  in  the  suddenness  and  indijfference  with 
which  the  subsequent  dynasty  of  Amadeo 
disappeared.  With  the  flight  of  the  Queen 
vanished  for  a  time  the  parliamentary  mon- 
archy, and,  despite  her  impotent  proclama- 
tions from  France,  and  offers  of  amnesty,  a 
provisional  government  was  at  once  estab- 
lished. 

A  decree  of  the  Government  to  take  in- 
ventories of  all  the  libraries,  collections  of 
manuscripts,  works  of  art,  or  objects  of  his- 
torical value — a  measure  necessary  to  make 
useful  and  available  these  treasures,  and  to 
prevent  spoliation  and  transfer — was  peace- 
fully executed  except  at  Burgos.  Here,  un- 
der instigation  of  the  priests  and  aided  by 
them,  a  mob  assembled,  broke  down  the  doors 
of  the  cathedral,  assassinated  the  Governor^ 
w^ounded  the  chief  of  police,  and  expelled 
those  engaged  in  making  the  required  ex- 
amination and  inventory.  This  outbreak, 
attributed  to  a  clerical  and  Carlist  conspir- 
acy, awakened  opposition  and  horror.  A 
strong  pressure  was  created  for  the  imme- 
diate establishment  of  freedom  of  w^orship. 
The  atrocious  butchery  at  Burgos  aroused 
the  inhabitants  of  the  capital.     The  Nuncio 


in  Spain  a7id  of  the  JRepublic,  25 

was  so  imperilled  by  tlie  excited  populace 
that  the  diplomatic  corps  interposed  for  the 
safety  and  protection  of  their  colleague. 
Marshal  Serrano  quieted  the  angry  multi- 
tude gathered  at  his  residence  by  saying  that 
the  Government  had  prepared  the  project  of 
a  constitution  to  be  submitted  to  the  Con- 
stitutional Assembly,  one  of  whose  first  arti- 
cles was  liberty  of  worship. 

On  February  12,  1869,  the  Constitutional 
Cortes,  convoked  by  the  Provisional  Govern- 
ment, assembled  with  unusual  pomp  and  cer- 
emony and  with  striking  demonstrations  of 
popular  enthusiasm.*  The  Kepublican  ele- 
ment had  many  and  strong  supporters.  Viva 
la  lie-puhUca!  was  their  deafening  shout. 
Viva  la  Monarquia!  was  the  response  of 
the  Opposition.  General  Serrano,  Duke  de 
la  Torre,  said  only  one  viva  should  be  given, 
Viva  the  Sovereignty  of  the  People, 


*  On  the  organization  of  the  Cortes  Constituyentes,  Gen- 
eral Serrano  resigned  his  power  into  their  hands,  but  the 
Cortes  passed  a  vote  of  thanks,  and  intrusted  him  with  the 
formation  of  a  new  ministry.  He  continued  the  cabinet 
which  four  months  before  he  had  called  around  him  at  the 
instance  of  the  junta.  In  it  were  Prim,  Figuerola,  Sagasta, 
Topete,  and  Zorrilla. 


26   A  Sketch  of  Co7istitutional  Government 

The  dethroned  queen  from  France  asserted 
her  royal  rights,  but  political  parties  were 
numerous.  The  Eepublicans,  among  whom 
the  eloquent  Castelar  was  influential,  were  a 
compact  phalanx,  and  to  them  the  indepen- 
dent Progresistas,  led  by  General  Prim,  made 
overtures  which  were  accepted.  On  Sunday, 
June  5,  1869,  the  Constitution  was  promul- 
gated. The  whole  city  came  out  in  gala 
dress  and  gave  itself  up  to  hilarity  and  fes- 
tivity. The  palace  of  the  Congress  was  elab- 
orately ornamented,  and  a  platform  extend- 
ing the  whole  length  of  the  building  was 
occupied  by  the  diplomatic  corps  and  other 
distinguished  people.  The  Constitution  was 
read  to  an  immense  concourse,  estimated  at 
one  hundred  thousand,  and  the  American 
Minister,  Hon.  John  P.  Hale,  said,  "  Every- 
body seemed  to  rejoice  at  the  coming  of  a 
new  order  of  things."  While  recognizing  the 
provinces  and  endowing  them  with  impor- 
tant functions,  the  Cortes  rejected  the  plan 
of  a  federal  republic,  and  adhered  to  the 
monarchical  form  of  government  as  corre- 
sponding with  and  a  concession  to  Spanish 
traditions,  and  as  most  likely  to  secure  a 
larger  measure  of  the  liberal  principles  of 


in  Spain  and  of  the  Republic.  27 

the  revolution.  The  Constitution,  the  lemti- 
mate  outgrowth  of  that  popular  uprisir^, 
recognized  the  natural  and  inherent  rights 
of  man,  and  established  an  elective  mon- 
archy. A  monarchy  harmonized  with  the 
existing  governments  of  Europe,  and  past 
bitter  experience  had  shown  how  readily  and 
effectively  they  would  combine  against  any 
political  action  which  did  not  acknowledge 
hereditary  right  and  privileged  classes  as  the 
only  proper  basis  of  civil  polity.  The  action 
of  the  Holy  Alliance  at  Troppau  was  a  sig- 
nificant and  fearful  claim  of  the  right  of  the 
European  powers  "  to  take  a  hostile  attitude 
in  regard  to  those  States  in  which  the  over- 
throw of  the  Government  might  operate  as 
an  example."  Congress  was  chosen  by  uni- 
versal suffrage.  The  provincial  assemblies 
and  the  municipal  authorities  were  elected 
by  the  people  of  their  respective  localities. 
The  ancient  privileges  of  the  aristocracy 
were  annulled,  and  the  equality  of  all  men 
before  the  law  was  recognized. 

The  best  test  of  the  growth  and  establish- 
ment of  free  and  enlightened  principles  of 
government  is  the  freedom  guaranteed  to 
worship  and  the  abstinence  of  civil  discrirai- 


28    A  Sketch  of  Oo7istitutional  Government 

nation  among  forms  of  religious  faith.  In 
1868,  General  Prim,  replying  to  an  inquiry 
of  H.  Guedalla,  Esq.,  a  Hebrew,  said,  "  I  am 
convinced  that  the  triumph  of  the  revolution 
must  bring  about,  without  any  restriction, 
every  religious  liberty."  The  same  person 
having  asked  a  formal  authorization  for  the 
Jews  to  enter  Spain  by  means  of  the  revoca- 
tion of  the  edict  of  banishment  of  March  20, 
1492,  elicited  from  the  Minister  of  Grace  and 
Justice  a  reply  that  the  Provisional  Govern- 
ment was  prepared  to  fulfil  all  the  engage- 
ments it  had  contracted  respecting  other 
worship  different  from  the  Catholic.  In  1869 
Serrano  wrote  to  Sir  Moses  Montefiore,  the 
distinguished  Hebrew  philanthropist,  "  This 
government  wishes  to  put  on  record  once 
more  its  unalterable  determination  that  the 
regenerating  principle  of  liberty  shall  extend 
its  beneficial  influence  to  that  which  is  dear- 
est and  most  sacred  to  the  human  conscience, 
viz.,  to  Eeligious  Creeds."  ''  No  disability 
weighs  in  Spain  upon  the  professors  of  any 
creed  whatsoever.  This  conduct  faithfully 
reflects  the  wishes  of  a  country  determined 
to  remain  no  longer  stagnant  in  the  midst  of 
the  fruitful  progress  of  Europe." 


in  Spain  and  of  the  llepiiblic,  29 

This  great  change  in  public  opinion,  tradi- 
tions, and  law  was  too  much  of  an  advance 
in  freedom  not  to  meet  with  stubborn  and 
wicked  resistance.  Accordingly,  the  Clerical 
party  claimed  the  continued  maintenance  of 
the  Koman  Catholic  Church  and  the  exclu- 
sion of  all  other  worship,  but  the  country 
had  outgrown  such  intolerance.  Mr.  Hale, 
with  a  large  generalization  from  few  facts, 
exultingly  wrote  that  Protestantism  had 
taken  a  firm  hold,  and  that  the  Spanish 
Protestant  church  in  Madrid  was  crowded 
every  Sunday  to  overflowing.  The  Catholic 
form  of  faith  was  retained  in  the  organic  law 
as  the  religion  of  the  State,  but  a  larger  lib- 
erty of  worship  was  secured  to  the  people. 
In  Article  XXI.  the  Catholic  Apostolic  Eo- 
man  religion  was  declared  the  State  religion, 
and  the  obligation  to  maintain  its  worship 
and  ministers  was  imposed.  Foreigners  were 
granted  toleration  for  public  and  private 
worship  under  the  limitations  of  the  univer- 
sal rules  of  morals  and  right,  and  Spaniards, 
even,  professing  another  than  the  Catholic 
religion  were  to  have  the  like  toleration. 
This  progress  is  the  more  marked  if  we  re- 
member that  Spain  is  the  most  intensely 


30    A  Sketch  of  Constitutional  Government 

Catholic  country  in  Europe ;  that  by  the  con- 
cordat concluded  with  Pius  IX.  in  1851  the 
Catholic  religion  was  to  be  maintained  as 
"  the  exclusive  religion  of  the  realm  in  such 
sort  that  the  practice  of  all  other  worship 
shall  be  forbidden  and  prevented,"  and  that 
she  aligns  herself  slowly  and  reluctantly 
with  the  modern  ideas  of  soul  liberty  as 
formulated  in  the  American  constitutions. 

Spain  quietly  passed  from  the  anomalous 
condition  of  a  provisional  into  a  regular  con- 
stitutional government,  the  title  of  Provis- 
ional Government  having  been  changed  to 
that  of  Executive  Power.  In  June  a  regen- 
cy was  established,  and  Serrano  was  chosen 
by  a  vote  of  193  to  45.  From  June  10, 1869, 
the  date  of  Prim's  first  cabinet,  until  Decem- 
ber 27,  1870,  when  he  was  shot,  he  had  four 
separate  ministries  besides  several  changes  of 
individual  ministers;  and  this  instability  is 
characteristic  of  Spanish  politics.  In  March, 
1870,  Sigismund  Moret,  the  distinguished 
orator  and  Liberal  statesman,  first  appeared 
in  the  cabinet,  having  the  portfolio  of  the 
Colonies. 


in  Spam  mid  of  the  Republic,  31 


y^    or„e    ^""^^ 

TJNIVEBSITY 


CHAPTER  IV. 

Choice  of  a  King. — Candidates  and  the  Elected. — Effect  of 
calling  Leopold  to  the  Throne. — Franco-Prussian  War. — 
Election  of  Amadeo. — Subsequent  Abdication. 

Two  serious  questions  confronted  the  Gov- 
ernment and  the  nation — (1)  political,  Who 
shall  be  king  ?  and  (2)  financial,  How  shall 
the  exhausted  treasury  be  replenished  and 
the  ever-recurring  deficit  be  met  and  pre- 
vented? Expenditure  and  receipts  would 
not  balance,  and  the  sources  of  income  Avere 
deceptive.  The  difficulties  and  diversities  of 
opinion  attending  the  choice  of  a  king  dis- 
tracted the  Monarchists,  and  gave  increasing 
vitality  and  efficiency  to  the  Republican  or- 
ganization, notwithstanding  the  abdication 
of  the  Queen  in  favor  of  her  son,  Alfonso. 
In  October  "  a  federal  republican  insurrec- 
tion "  occurred  at  Valencia,  and  a  large  force 
was  needed  to  suppress  it.  In  Tarrago- 
na, Barcelona,  Saragossa,  Seville,  and  other 
towns,  there  was  a  marked  increase  of  demo- 
cratic sentiment.     To  prevent  the  spread  of 


32    A  Sketch  of  Co7istitutional  Gomrnment 

this  feeling,  the  provisions  of  the  Constitu- 
tion guaranteeing  personal  rights  were  sus- 
pended, more  than  twenty  journals  were  sup- 
pressed, and  the  regular  authorities  in  many 
municipalities  were  dismissed.  These  sus- 
pended provisions  were  afterwards  restored, 
but  little  was  done  towards  adapting  the  old 
laws  to  the  new  order.  Many  of  the  depu- 
ties on  the  Government  side  of  the  chamber 
held  positions  which  prevented  independence 
in  their  legislative  action,  and  the  people 
justly  complained  at  their  failure  to  realize 
the  advantages  sought  and  expected  from 
the  revolution. 

The  expediency  of  having  a  king  being  de- 
termined on,  it  was  thought  necessary  that 
he  should  be  a  Eoman  Catholic,  and,  under 
the  narrow  worship  of  mere  birth,  that  he 
should  be  also  of  royal  blood.  Available  per- 
sons with  these  requisites  were  few,  and  thus 
the  field  of  selection  was  very  limited.  There 
was  not  wanting  much  "  electioneering  "  by 
candidates  or  their  adherents.  The  Spanish 
succession  had  long  been  a  source  of  interna- 
tional strife  ;  and  so  the  question  of  a  sover- 
eign agitated  other  countries  besides  Spain, 
and  the  solicitude  of  Spanish  statesmen  to 


ill  Spain  and  of  the  JRepiiblic.  33 

find  a  proper  solution  of  tliis  problem  had 
irritation  and  perplexity  from  abroad.  A 
crown  is  such  a  glittering  prize  that  it  tempts 
human  ambition  and  cupidity.  Maximilian 
is  a  striking  illustration  of  what  men  and 
nations  will  venture  for  dynastic  strengthen- 
ing, for  national  interests,  and  for  individual 
aggrandizement.  It  was  not  strange  that 
other  European  nations,  in  the  presence  of 
imminent  Continental  conflicts,  should  strive, 
openly  or  furtively,  to  gain  a  willing  ally 
or  preponderance  of  influence  in  the  Penin- 
sula. 

For  the  vacant  throne  some  Spaniards  turn- 
ed to  the  Duke  of  Montpensier ;  some  to  the 
Court  of  Portugal,  and  in  default  thereof  to 
the  house  of  Savoy.  The  Portuguese  search 
originated  in  the  somewhat  vague  but  ever- 
ardent  aspiration  for  Iberian  unity,  the  se- 
cret desire  of  every  Spanish  statesman,  and 
had  the  active  co-operation  of  some  influen- 
tial men  w^ho  solicited  the  assent  and  inter- 
vention of  INlapoleon.  The  negotiations  with 
Portugal  were  prosecuted  not  without  diffi- 
culty, but  also  not  without  some  hope  of  suc- 
cess. Ferdinand,  however,  declined  the  prof- 
fered crown,  and  then,  at  the  moment  of 
3 


34    A  Sketch  of  Constitutional  Government 

greatest  embarrassmeiit,  the  candidature  of 
Leopold,  Prince  of  Hohenzollern,  Avas  pro- 
posed. This  was  in  pursuance  of  the  desire 
for  Peninsular  union,  and  was  "  a  natural 
consequence  of  King  Ferdinand's  refusal  to 
accept  the  crown  of  Spain."  A  distinguish- 
ed Spaniard,  a  participant  in  the  events,  has 
kindly  furnished  this  explanation  of  the.  ac- 
tion of  his  government :  "  Prince  Leopold 
is  married  to  the  Infanta  Antonia  of  Portu- 
gal, sister  of  the  present  monarch,  and  for 
this  reason  his  candidacy  responded  to  the 
aspirations  of  the  Liberal  party  for  Iberian 
union.  It  was  initiated  by  the  Duke  of  Sal- 
danha,  at  that  time  in  Paris,  and  in  concert, 
according  to  report,  with  the  Princess  Ma- 
thilda, cousin  of  the  Emperor.  General  Prim 
adopted  the  suggestion  with  ardor,  and  sent 
a  Spanish  diplomats,  Senor  Salazzar  y  Mazar- 
redo,  to  Dusseldorf ,  the  residence  of  the  prince 
and  princess,  with  a  letter  offering  the  throne 
to  Prince  Leopold.  The  prince  accepted,  and 
his  reply  was  brought  to  Madrid  by  Salazzar 
on  the  last  day  of  June.  By  a  fatal  coinci- 
dence, it  happened  that  General  Prim,  on  the 
day  of  the  arrival,  was  hunting  in  the  mount- 
ains of  Toledo.     The  former,  satisfied  with 


in  Spain  and  of  the  Bejmhlic.  35 

his  mission,  and  believing  its  success  as- 
sured, prematurely  read  the  letter  which  he 
brought  to  various  public  men,  among  them 
Messrs.  Eivero  and  Zorrilla.  *  The  result  was 
that  when  General  Prim  arrived  that  night 
in  Madrid  everybody  knew  what  had  oc- 
curred, and  the  secrecy  indispensable  to  the 
success  of  the  negotiation  was  made  impos- 
sible." 

It  was  the  intention  of  General  Prim, when 
the  acceptance  had  been  once  secured,  to  con- 
fer with  the  Emperor  Napoleon,  whose  ac- 
quiescence he  considered  indispensable  to  the 
establishing  of  the  prince  in  Spain.  His  plan 
was  to  have  a  conference  in  person  with  the 
Emperor  at  Vichy,  and  he  was  preparing  to 
go  to  these  baths  as  soon  as  he  had  received 
the  answer  he  was  expecting.  "The  pub- 
licity given  to  the  candidacy  not  only  de- 
stroyed all  this  plan,  but  precipitated  the 
events  which  afterwards  developed,  and 
which,  being  entirely  public,  need  not  be  re- 
ferred to.  So  impressed  was  General  Prim 
with  the  necessity  of  coming  to  an  under- 
standing with  Napoleon  in  reference  to  the 
candidacy  for  the  Spanish  throne,  if  the  re- 
ply of  the  Emperor  had  been  negative  the 


36   A  Sketch  of  Constitutional  Government 

candidature  would  not  have  been  known.  If 
the  Emperor  had  assented,  success  was  be- 
yond a  doubt." 

"  To  what  point  the  King  of  Prussia  had 
knowledge  through  his  representative  in 
Madrid  of  the  plans  and  intentions  of  Gen- 
eral Prim,  is  a  matter  about  which  nothing 
is  yet  known  certainly.  "What  is  beyond  a 
doubt  in  the  minds  of  all  those  who  were  at 
the  time  acquainted  with  the  negotiation  is 
that  it  was  not  fostered  by  the  King  of  Prus- 
sia, nor  did  Bismarck  believe  that  it  could  be 
the  origin  or  occasion  of  a  conflict.  After 
war  had  been  declared  Napoleon  informed 
Prim  that  he  knew  the  loyalty  of  his  con- 
duct, and  did  not  hold  him  responsible  for 
what  had  occurred." 

Early  in  July,  1870  (the  3d),  General  Prim 
announced  to  the  French  ambassador  the 
purpose  of  the  Council  of  Ministers  to  offer 
the  crown  to  Leopold.  In  fact,  as  has  been 
stated,  the  offer  by  a  deputation  and  its  ac- 
ceptance had  preceded  the  annunciation,  and 
the  choice  and  the  haste  were  to  defeat  the 
schemes  of  Montpensier.  Prim  said  to  the 
ambassador  that  he  should  have  needed  to 
relax  his  hand  only  a  little  and  Montpensier 


in  Spain  and  of  the  Republic,  37 

would  have  been  chosen.  The  negotiation 
and  agreement,  when  they  transpired,  were 
regarded  by  other  Powers  as  an  unwise  dis- 
turbance of  the  European  equilibrium.  The 
Times  characterized  the  election  as  a  vulgar 
and  impudent  coup-d/ etat  France  was  in- 
dignant, and  looked  upon  it  as  a  dynastic 
intrigue,  and  an  adroit  and  Machiavelian 
scheme  on  the  part  of  Bismarck  to  put 
her  between  two  fires.  To  place  on  the 
Spanish  throne  a  member  of  the  reigning 
house  of  Prussia  and  reunite  two  thrones  in 
the  same  dynasty,  Duke  de  Gramont  said, 
was  "  au  profit  de  la  Prusse,  un  point  d'appui 
contre  la  France."  In  the  case  of  war  there 
would  be  no  security  for  the  frontier  of  the 
Pyrenees  if  a  Prussian  prince  occupied  the 
throne  of  Spain,  and  an  army  to  guard  it 
would  be  necessary.  A  distinguished  Span- 
iard, who  knew  Eugenie  well  before  her  mar- 
riage, and  preserved  relations  of  close  friend- 
ship with  her  when  she  became  empress,  says 
that  she  was  much  excited  over  the  intelli- 
gence, and  declared  that  his  acceptance  would 
be  followed  by  a  war  with  Prussia,  and  that 
Spain  would  suffer  sorely  from  the  conflict. 
France,  finding  herself  in  the  presence  of  an 


38   A  Sketch  of  Constitutional  Government 

act  of  political  aggression,  declared  that  she 
would  never  consent  to  see  a  Prussian  prince 
seated  on  the  throne  of  Spain,  and  explana- 
tions were  demanded  from  the  Berlin  Cab- 
inet. Bismarck  alleged  that  the  King  of 
Prussia  gave  his  consent  to  the  acceptance 
of  the  croAvn  by  the  prince  only  as  the  head 
of  the  HohenzoUern  family,  and  not  as  an 
act  of  the  Government.  This  was  a  lame 
explanation,  and  an  effort  was  made  through 
Benedetti,  the  French  Minister,  to  induce 
King  "William  to  prevent  Leopold's  accept- 
ance. Acting  under  the  secret  suggestion  of 
the  King,  the  father  of  Leopold,  in  a  letter 
to  the  Spanish  ambassador,  withdrew  the 
name  of  his  son,  as  the  election,  under  the 
circumstances,  would  not  have  the  sincerity 
and  spontaneity  on  which  Leopold  counted 
when  he  accepted  the  candidature.  This 
note  passing  between  Spain  and  the  prince 
had  not  one  word  of  France  or  of  Prussia ; 
and,  as  Gramont,  the  French  Minister  for 
Foreign  Affairs,  says  in  his  "  La  France  et 
la  Prusse,"  far  from  settling  affairs,  com- 
plicated them,  on  the  contrary,  in  the 
gravest  manner.  Explanations  and  guar- 
antees for  the  future  were  demanded  and 


in  Spam  and  of  the  Republic,  39 

refused,  and  thus  began  the  Franco-Prussian 
war.^ 

As  a  result  of  this  terrible  collision,  itself 
''the  resultant  of  two  nearly  equal  forces 
emanating  from  the  Tuileries  and  the  Vati- 
can," the  Napoleonic  dynasty  collapsed,  the 
Papal  temporal  jurisdiction,  no  longer  sup- 
ported by  French  bayonets,  disappeared,  Ita- 
ly was  unified  and  regenerated,  the  German 
States  were  consolidated  into  an  empire,  and 
King  "William  of  Prussia  was  proclaimed  Em- 
peror of  Germany  within  the  Hall  of  Mir- 
rors, in  the  palace  of  the  French  kings  at 
Versailles,  in  the  presence  of  the  German 
princes,  under  the  standards  of  the  army  be- 
fore Paris  (January  18, 1871).t 

*  A  slab  of  stone  at  Ems  contains  this  inscription:  "13 
Juli,  1870,  9  uhr,  10  minuten,  Morgens."  It  was  placed  there 
to  designate  the  precise  spot  and  moment  where  and  when 
Benedetti  encountered  the  King  and  demanded  the  guaranties, 
and  where  the  new  German  empire  was  born. 

f  Without  passing  positive  judgment  on  the  immediate  re- 
sponsibility for  the  war,  usually  ascribed  to  Empress  Eugenie 
and  her  priestly  advisers,  which  Jules  Favre  said  was  wicked- 
ly precipitated  by  the  French  Government,  and  which  Gramont 
charges  on  Bismarck,  one  may  be  pardoned  the  remark  that 
the  conflict,  the  Iliad  of  unnumbered  and  unfinished  woes, 
could  have  been  very  easily  prevented  by  arbitration,  or  a 
little  prudence,  or  the  slightest  concern  for  the  welfare  of  the 


40   A  Sketch  of  Constitutional  Government 
The  general  opinion  in  Spain,  at  that  time, 

peoples  of  the  belligerent  countries.  In  this  struggle  of  dy- 
nastic ambitions  and  official  selfishness  the  causes  assigned 
are  insignificant  pretexts,  wholly  inadequate  to  justify  the 
most  momentous  war  of  modern  times.  The  testimony  is  con- 
clusive that  the  Emperor  Napoleon  entered  most  reluctantly 
into  the  bloody  arbitrament.  M.  le  Baron  de  Susbielle,  a  gen- 
eral in  the  French  army,  a  member  of  the  military  family  of 
the  Emperor,  says  that  in  the  conferences  just  preceding  hos- 
tilities Napoleon  uniformly  expressed  his  opposition  and  was 
sceptical  as  to  the  final  issue.  It  is  thought  that  Susbielle's 
memoirs,  to  be  published  after  his  death,  will  make  interest- 
ing disclosures.  Mr.  Washburne,  in  his  "Recollections  of  a 
Minister  to  France,"  bears  concurrent  testimony.  *'  The  truth 
is,  that  after  eighteen  years  of  peace  the  courtiers  and  advent- 
urers who  surrounded  the  Emperor  seemed  to  think  it  was 
about  time  to  have  a  war  to  awaken  the  martial  spirit  of  the 
people.  ...  If  the  Emperor  had  been  left  to  himself  the  war 
would  have  been  averted.  I  am  quite  sure  his  heart  was  never 
in  the  venture."  Gramont's  cautious  statements  are  in  the 
same  direction.  Phillimore  (vol.  i.,  p.  583)  holds  this  lan- 
guage: "It  may  safely  be  affirmed  that  in  the  war  of  1870 
France  was  the  aggressor,  that  the  immediate  reason  which 
she  assigned  for  beginning  it  was  neither  true  nor  adequate. 
The  choice  by  the  Spaniards  of  a  Hohenzollern,  by  whomso- 
ever suggested,  for  the  throne  of  Spain,  was  not  an  act  which 
disturbed  the  balance  of  power ;  it  neither  threatened  the  gen- 
eral liberties  of  Europe  nor  endangered  the  safety  of  France." 
On  March  1,  1871,  the  Sovereign  Assembly  at  Bordeaux,  the 
organ  of  the  national  conscience  and  will,  solemnly  rendered 
the  famous  decree  which  proclaimed  Napoleon  III.  and  his 
dynasty  "  responsables  de  la  mine,  de  I'invasion  et  du  demem- 
brement  de  la  France." 


^V^  Spain  and  of  the  Republic,  41 

was  that  France  was  the  stronger  military 
power,  and  Leopold's  declension  Avas  a  wel- 
come relief.  His  candidacy  being  removed, 
the  strife  for  the  throne  became  fiercer.  On 
November  3,  1870,  General  Prim  announced 
to  the  Cortes  the  Duke  of  Aosta,  son  of  Vic- 
tor Emmanuel,  as  the  Ministerial  candidate 
for  the  crown.  Castelar  impetuously  de- 
nounced the  attempt  to  put  a  foreigner  over 
Spaniards.  On  the  15th,  Amadeo  was  elect- 
ed king,  receiving  on  a  vote  by  ballot  a  ma- 
jority of  seventy-one  of  those  present  and  a 
majority  of  eighteen  in  a  full  house.  The 
majority  represented  the  Monarchists,  who 
had  combined  to  accomplish  the  revolution 
of  September,  1868,  and  it  was  General 
Prim's  vigor  and  popularity  which  brought 
about  the  election  as  an  expedient  for  con- 
ciliating the  monarchical  sentiments  of  the 
more  influential  Spaniards.  The  desired  ef- 
fect was  not  produced.  The  choice  excited 
no  enthusiasm,  elicited  no  applause,  nor  was 
a  viva  given  by  the  multitude  outside  the 
building  where  the  Cortes  had  made  a  sover- 
eign. Thirty  thousand  troops,  discreetly 
posted  in  principal  thoroughfares,  prevented 
any  hostile  demonstration,  and  the  leading 


42    A  /Sketch  of  Constitutional  Government 

Eepublicans,  Figueras,  Castelar,  and  Piry  ^ 
Margall,  advised  against  any  acts  of  vio- 
lence. Many  journals  condemned  the  Cor- 
tes. Grandees  protested,  placards  caricatured 
and  ridiculed.  At  theatres  the  dissent  was 
openly  expressed  and  strong.  Spanish  pride 
and  hostility  to  foreigners  were  thoroughly 
aroused.  Nevertheless,  Zorrilla  went  to  Italy 
to  make  the  formal  tender  of  the  crown,  and 
on  January  2,  1871,  the  prince  reached  Ma- 
drid, and  took  the  prescribed  oaths  of  office 
in  the  presence  of  the  regent,  the  Cortes, 
and  the  diplomatic  corps.  The  ceremony 
was  brief  and  simple.  The  reception  by  the 
populace  was  respectful  and  cold.  The  Pro- 
visional Government  resigned,  and  a  new 
ministry  was  appointed,  embracing  such  men 
as  Serrano,  Martos,  Moret,  Sagasta,  and  Zor- 
rilla. The  Cabinet  was  a  composite  struct- 
ure, a  truce  among  rival  factions,  and  repre- 
sented the  three  principal  monarchical  par- 
ties which  had  been  engaged  in  the  revolu- 
tion and  which  had  united  in  the  election 
of  a  new  king.  In  Spain  pensioners  and  de- 
pendents can  easily  be  rallied  in  support  of 
the  Government,  but  in  spite  of  that  "  coin 
d'avantage,"  the  ministries  were  ephemeral 


in  Spain  and  of  the  Republic.  43 

— eight  in  two  years,  one  lasting  seventeen 
days — failing  in  internal  harmony  and  in 
the  necessary  strength  to  administer  the 
government.  Amadeo  never  had  the  friend- 
ship of  the  Carlists  nor  of  the  simon-pure 
Monarchists.  The  dynasty  was  offensive  to 
the  adherents  of  Don  Carlos  and  of  Alfonso, 
and  to  the  Eepublicans,  who  were  opposed 
to  any  king.  After  the  death  of  Isabella,  in 
1503,  the  Castilian  nobles  were  averse  to  the 
regency  of  Ferdinand,  an  alien  to  them,  and 
they  incited  intrigue  and  conspiracy.  So 
now,  on  the  part  of  the  old  aristocracy  there 
was  an  ill-concealed  repugnance  to  an  Ital- 
ian king  and  to  the  queen.  The  Republi- 
cans, foreseeing  the  failure  of  the  monarchy, 
Avere  often  consulting,  so  as  to  be  forearmed 
and  ready  for  the  anticipated  emergency. 
Even  Zorrilla,  then  the  President  of  the  Coun- 
cil of  Ministers  and  loyal  to  the  King,  on 
December  20,  1872,  speaking  of  the  reforms 
intended  to  prevent  the  outside  world  from 
confounding  Spain  with  Turkey,  said  "'  they 
had  something  more  to  do  than  to  patch  up 
royal  marriages  or  study  Spanish  interests 
from  a  dynastic  point  of  view.  Foreign  pow- 
ers could  no  lono-er  sav  to  our  ambassadors 


44   A  Sketch  of  Constitutional  Government 

that  they  merely  represented  the  Queen's 
personal  wishes." 

Becoming  convinced  that  the  Opposition 
was  irreconcilable,  that  factions  were  inev- 
itable, that  a  stable  ministry  was  impossible, 
Amadeo  resolved  on  the  singular  course  of 
abdicating  the  royal  authority,  and  return- 
ing to  the  nation  the  powers  with  which  he 
had  been  intrusted.  Ferdinand  resigned  his 
regency  to  his  son-in-law  Philip  with  reluc- 
tance, under  the  pressure  of  immediate  and 
successful  revolt,  but  the  act  of  this  king 
was  voluntary  and  against  the  ineflfectual 
dissuasives  of  his  Ministers.  In  a  letter  to 
the  Cortes,  February  11,  1873,  he  said :  "  I 
realize  that  my  good  intentions  have  been  in 
vain.  For  two  long  years  have  I  worn  the 
crown  of  Spain,  and  Spain  still  lives  in  con- 
tinual strife,  departing  day  by  day  more 
widely  from  that  era  of  peace  and  prosperi- 
ty for  which  I  have  so  ardently  yearned.  .  .  . 
I  am  to-day  firmly  convinced  of  the  barren- 
ness of  my  efforts  and  the  impossibility  of 
attaining  my  aims.  These,  deputies,  are  the 
reasons  that  move  me  to  give  back  to  the 
nation,  and  in  its  name  to  you,  the  crown 
offered  to  me  by  the  national  suffrage,  re- 


in  Spain  and  of  the  Republic,  45 

nouncing  it  for  myself,  my  children,  and  my 
successors."  The  nation  and  most  of  the 
leading  statesmen  were  taken  by  surprise. 
A  resignation  of  a  throne  seemed  incredible. 
Changes  in  the  ministry  were  habitual,  but 
such  a  change,  great  and  dynastic,  was  not 
looked  for  except  through  a  revolution  by 
soldiers.  What  to  do  in  this  sudden  and 
critical  emergency  transcended  the  experi- 
ence of  the  oldest,  puzzled  the  sagacity  of 
the  wisest.  The  two  branches  of  the  Cortes 
assembled  in  one  body,  senators  and  depu- 
ties seated  promiscuously,  the  President  of 
the  Senate  occupying  a  place  to  the  right  of 
the  President  of  the  Congress,  but  the  latter 
acting  as  the  presiding  officer  of  the  Con- 
gress of  Spain.  Amid  the  uncertainty  and 
confusion  Castelar  said,  "  The  great  problem 
is  to  ally  order  with  liberty."  The  resigna- 
tion was  accepted  unanimously,  and  in  an 
address  to  his  Majesty  it  was  declared  that 
he  had  been  a  most  faithful  observer  of  the 
respect  due  to  the  Chambers,  and  that  he 
had  kept  most  faithfully  the  oath  taken 
when  he  accepted  from  the  hands  of  the 
people  the  crown  of  Spain.  It  was  further 
affirmed  that  the  utmost  efforts  would  have 


46    A  Sketch  of  Constitutional  Government 

been  made  to  induce  the  King  to  desist  from 
his  purpose,  but  they  would  have  been  vain 
before  ''the  irresistible  course  of  events." 
The  Cortes  therefore  assumed  "  the  supreme 
power  and  sovereignty  of  the  nation,"  in  or- 
der "  to  minister  to  the  salvation  of  democ- 
racy, the  base  of  the  political  structure  of 
liberty,  the  soul  of  all  our  rights  and  of  the 
country."  It  was  said  to  the  King,  Avith  a 
mixture  of  Spanish  grandiloquence  and  chiv- 
alry, "  While  your  Majesty  remains  upon  our 
noble  soil  the  Spanish  people  will  offer  you 
every  mark  of  respect,  of  loyalty,  and  of  def- 
erence, because  it  is  due  alike  to  your  Maj- 
esty, to  your  virtuous  and  noble  consort,  and 
to  your  innocent  children.  The  Spanish  peo- 
ple cannot  offer  you  a  crown  in  the  future, 
but  when  they  have  emerged  from  the  diffi- 
culties that  attend  every  epoch  of  transition 
and  of  crisis,  they  will  then  offer  you  another 
dignity,  the  dignity  of  a  citizen  in  the  midst 
of  a  free  and  independent  people."* 

*  See  Appendix  A  for  an  account  of  Fernando,  Leopold, 
Amadeo,  and  the  Duke  of  Montpensier. 


in  Spain  and  of  the  Republic,  47 


CHAPTER  V. 

Difficulties  of  the  Situation. — Establishment  of  the  Republic. — 
Recognition  by  the  United  States. 

The  abdication  left  the  nation  without 
executive  head  or  authority.  This  was  a 
casus  omissus^  an  exigency  unforeseen  by 
the  Constitution-makers.  No  provision  had 
been  made  for  such  an  interregnum.  The 
ministry  y^^^  functus  officio^  and  disappeared 
with  the  authority  of  the  king  from  whom 
the  trust  was  derived.  The  Cortes  therefore 
remained  as  the  only  legitimate  and  conven- 
able  source  of  political  power.  In  the  ab- 
sence of  Ferdinand  VII.  it  had  undertaken 
the  national  defence  in  "  the  epic  years " 
from  1808  to  1814;  it  had  abrogated  the 
rights  of  Don  Carlos;  it  had  hastened  the 
majority  of  Dona  Isabel  II. ;  it  had  recog- 
nized and  sanctioned  the  dethronement  of 
the  Bourbon  dynasty.  It  was  now  the  most 
enduring  power  of  Spanish  nationality,  and 
in  this  crisis  came  to  the  rescue  of  the  coun- 
try from  anarchy  and  chaos.     The  Mon- 


48    A  Sketch  of  Constitutional  Government 

archists  seemed  to  be  wholly  unprepared  for 
the  perplexing  condition  of  affairs.  The  Ee- 
publicans,  on  the  other  hand,  had  somewhat 
anticipated  and  prepared  for  it.  Martos  had 
said  publicly  on  the  10th,  "  If  the  king  goes, 
there  is  nothing  else  possible  but  the  Eepub- 
lic."  General  Sickles,  the  American  Minis- 
ter, who  was  in  full  sympathy  and  constant 
consultation  with  the  leaders,  says  the  plans 
were  well  arranged,  and  the  contingencies 
were  provided  for.  As  early  as  January 
30th  he  had  telegraphed  to  the  Department 
at  Washington  for  instructions  in  case  the 
Cortes  declared  itself  a  convention,  and  ap- 
pointed a  new  executive.  Amid  the  dis- 
tracted counsels,  the  terror,  and  the  fearful 
apprehensions,  the  Eepublicans  had  patiently 
resisted  all  inducements  to  precipitate  action, 
and  had  proceeded  with  much  calmness  and 
deliberation.  In  November,  1872,  a  law  for 
the  conscription  of  forty  thousand  men  had 
provoked  unusual  opposition  in  the  Cortes, 
and  its  execution  met  violent  resistance  in 
the  provinces.  Eepublican  journals  advised 
the  use  of  the  occasion  for  a  serious  attempt 
to  ove*rturn  the  monarchy,  but  a  general 
convention  of  Eepublicans  in  Madrid,  includ- 


in  Spain  and  of  the  Republic,  49 

ing  Figueras,  Castelar,  and  Pi  y  Margall,  op- 
posed any  revolutionary  movement.  Some 
of  these  were  Eepublicans  from  study  and 
conviction,  and  were  men  of  some  civic  ex- 
perience and  of  large  intellectual  breadth. 
It  was  by  them  argued  that  a  constitutional 
monarchy  in  the  person  of  a  queen  by  divine 
right  had  been  found  incompatible  w^th  per- 
sonal libert}^  and  national  progress,  and  that 
the  fruits  of  an  elective  monarchy  were  be- 
fore them  in  the  want  of  an  executive. 
What  was  needed  was  an  organization  to  hold 
human  society  together  on  principles  of  jus- 
tice and  right.  Placing  political  power  in 
the  hands  of  a  select  family  was  irreconcil- 
able with  the  great  principle  of  national 
sovereignty  in  the  people.  To  merge  the 
sovereignty  of  a  nation  in  a  dynasty  was  an 
impossibility.  It  was  necessary,  therefore, 
that  the  Cortes,  the  sole  existing  available 
depositary  of  power,  should  at  once  proclaim 
the  Eepublic,  and  leave  to  a  Constitutional 
Convention,  to  be  afterwards  chosen,  the 
duty  of  giving  definitive  form  and  organi- 
zation. The  first  imperative  duty  was  to 
organize  such  institutions  as  were  needful 
to  maintain  social  order.  The  two  chambers 
4 


50    A  Sketch  of  Constitutional  Governynent 

resolved  themselves  into  a  ISTational  Assem- 
bly in  permanent  session  and  in  the  exercise 
of  sovereign  powers.  By  a  vote  of  258  to 
32  this  proposition  was  adopted.  "  The 
National  Assembly,  assuming  all  powers, 
declares  the  form  of  the  government  of  the 
nation  to  be  republican,  leaving  the  organi- 
zation of  the  form  to  a  future  convention." 
It  has  been  objected  that  the  establishment 
of  the  Eepublic  had  no  constitutionality  of 
origin  or  organization,  but  surely  it  had  as 
much  as  the  monarchy  or  any  other  regula- 
tion of  family  or  class  control.  The  old 
superstition  of  divine  right  of  kings,  that 
royalty  never  loses  its  right  to  reign,  that 
no  prescription  or  statute  of  limitations  runs 
against  royalty,  can  hardly  claim  respect  or 
sanction  since  the  English  Revolution  of 
1688,  the  American  Declaration  of  Indepen- 
dence or  the  French  Revolution  of  1789- 
1793.  Besides,  a  republic  appeared  to  be  the 
only  alternative,  the  way  having  been  pre- 
pared by  the  proclamation  of  the  natural 
rights  of  man,  the  denial  of  Bourbon  or  dy- 
nastic claims  to  supremacy,  the  enlargement 
of  suffrage,  the  increasing  freedom  of  wor- 
ship, and  the  restriction  of  the  powers  of 


in  Spain  and  of  the  Bepuhlic,  51 

the  Cliurch.  The  executive  power  was  con- 
stituted by  ballot  under  the  presidency  of 
Estanislao  Figueras,  whose  life  had  been 
consecrated  to  a  republic.  Castelar  was 
chosen  Secretary  of  State,  Salmeron,  Minis- 
ter of  Grace  and  Justice,  and  Pi  y  Margall, 
'  Minister  of  the  Interior.  After  an  election 
of  a  committee  of  the  body  to  exercise  the 
executive  power,  and  of  a  larger  committee 
to  sit  during  the  recess,  the  Cortes  adjourned 
to  await  the  meeting  of  the  new  Constitu- 
ent Assembly. 

The  fall  of  the  monarchy  had  not  been 
the  outcome  of  violence.  Castelar  said  it 
was  "without  provocation  from  any  one, 
without  the  fault  of  any  one,  the  people  or 
the  Government,  the  Cortes  or  any  public  au- 
thority, without  a  cloud  in  the  sky."  "  No 
one  destroyed  it.  It  died  of  natural  causes. 
The  monarchy  died  by  internal  decomposi- 
tion. It  dies  by  the  providence  of  God. 
The  Eepublic  is  the  creation  of  circum- 
stances. It  comes  from  a  conjuncture  of 
society  and  nature  and  history."  The  Ee- 
public  was  accomplished  legitimately.  "It 
was  not  proclaimed  in  the  streets;  it  was 
not  the  doing  of  a  mob ;  it  was  not  ushered 


52    A  Sketch  of  Constitutional  Government 

in  with  disorder  and  tumult  and  blood:  it 
was  the  work  of  a  deliberative  assembly, 
legitimate  representatives  of  the  people,  sub- 
stituting an  executive  authority  for  that 
which  had  ceased  to  exist  by  abdication  of 
the  King." 

Having  no  moral  support  from  European 
nations,  which  looked  with  disfavor  on  all 
extension  of  popular  rights,  Spain  very  natu- 
rally cast  her  eyes  to  the  other  side  of  the 
Atlantic,  to  the  most  advanced  and  enlight- 
ened of  the  countries  which  sprang  from 
her  bold  enterprise,  for  sympathy  and  cheer 
in  this  supreme  struggle.  On  the  12th,  Gen- 
eral Sickles  had  instructions  from  Washing- 
ton to  recognize  the  republican  government 
when  it  was  fully  established  and  in  posses- 
sion of  the  power  of  the  nation.  He  was  to 
urge  the  expediency  of  emancipation  in  the 
West  Indies,  and  of  political  reforms  by  effi- 
cient self-acting  measures.  Sickles  subse- 
quently urged  the  abolition  of  slavery  in 
Cuba  and  self-government,  but  those  in  pow- 
er could  not  grasp  such  schemes,  or  doubted 
their  ability  to  carry  them  through.  On  the 
13th,  Cristino  Martos,  who  had  declined  the 
Presidency  of  the  Council  of  Ministers,  was 


i)i  Spai7i  and  of  the  Republic,  53 

made  President  of  the  Sovereign  Assembly, 
and  General  Sickles  informed  the  Minister 
of  State  of  his  authority  to  recognize  the 
Republic,  and  asked  a  public  audience  in  his 
official  character.  On  the  15th,  the  American 
Minister,  in  the  uniform  of  a  general  of  the 
Union  Army,  with  two  battalions  of  troops 
in  line  rendering  military  honors,  the  bands 
of  music  playing  American  national  airs,  had 
an  imposing  pageant  as  he  went,  thus  escort- 
ed, to  the  reception  chamber  where  awaited 
him  the  President  and  the  Cabinet,  to  whom 
he  read  an  address  of  congratulation  and 
sympathy  at  "  the  establishment  of  a  repub- 
lic in  the  empire  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella." 
"  It  is,"  he  said,  "  a  source  of  profound  satis- 
faction that  Spain  finds  in  our  example  the 
means  by  which  her  prosperity  and  povver 
may  rest  on  sure  foundations."  President 
Figueras  replied  that  he  was  deeply  affected 
"  by  the  mighty  voice  of  the  American  peo- 
ple hailing  with  their  benediction  the  ad- 
vent of  a  republic,  and  he  rejoiced  in  the 
strong  bond  of  union  between  Spain,  which 
carried  to  your  shores  the  germs  of  civiliza- 
tion, and  America  which  now  gives  us  by 
her  example  the  fruits  of  liberty  and  democ- 


54    A  Sketch  of  Constitutional  Government 

racy."  In  behalf  of  those  whose  lives  had 
been  "  devoted  to  the  hard  problem  of  unit- 
ing democracy  and  liberty,"  he  expressed 
profound  gratitude  that  there  had  been  men 
who  sought  in  the  New  World  "a  temple 
for  their  unfettered  conscience,  and  founded 
a  new  order  of  society  which  has  united  in 
perfect  equilibrium  the  authority  of  society 
with  the  inherent  rights  of  man,  the  restless 
vigor  of  democracy  with  firm  stability  of 
power,  the  free  outgrowth  of  all  the  aspira- 
tions of  the  human  soul  w^ith  respect  for  the 
laws  and  interests  of  others."^  This  official 
audience  was  followed  by  a  visit  to  the  pal- 
ace of  the  Cortes,  where,  preceded  by  the 
mace -bearers  and  the  secretaries,  General 
Sickles  was  led  to  the  salon  of  the  Presi- 
dent and  presented  to  the  Sovereign  Assem- 
bly of  Spain  the  fraternal  salutations  of  the 
United  States.  On  the  whole,  this  was  a  fit 
and  significant  recognition;  America  hold- 

*  A  far  more  conservative  and  orthodox  declaration  than 
the  sentiment  of  Hubert  Bancroft  in  "  Popular  Tribunals," 
which  assumes  the  right  of  the  governed,  at  all  times,  to  in- 
stant and  arbitrary  control  of  the  Government — "  a  dissolute 
principle  of  political  ethics,"  which  sanctions  Dorrism,  an- 
archy, lynch-law,  and  all  democratic  misrule. 


in  Spain  and  of  the  Republic.  55 

ing  up  the  hands  of  the  infant  republic  in 
the  country  that  sent  out  the  discoverer — 
the  daughter  crowning  the  mother — the  Gov- 
ernment which  made  the  contribution  of  soul- 
liberty,  of  divorced  Church  and  State,  to  the 
science  of  politics,  coming  first  and  alone  to 
give  sympathy,  encouragement,  and  moral 
support  to  the  country  of  the  Inquisition. 
GaHleo  may  be  put  to  death,  but  the  world 
moves;  the  scaffold  may  have  its  political 
victims,  but  the  cause  of  freedom  advances. 
Sickles  telegraphs, "  Order  assured ;  funds  ris- 
ing ;  confidence  established."  On  March  6th 
the  Congress,  by  joint  resolution,  in  the  name 
and  on  behalf  of  the  American  people,  ten- 
ders its  congratulations  to  the  people  of 
Spain  upon  their  recent  efforts  to  consoli- 
date the  principles  of  universal  liberty  in  a 
republican  form  of  government.  This  was 
in  conformity  to  the  established  practice  of 
the  United  States,  to  recognize  foreign  gov- 
ernments by  reason  of  the  fact  of  their  ex- 
istence as  such,  independent  of  any  consider- 
ations of  legitimacy  or  other  political  theory. 
The  policy  is  not  to  interfere  in  any  of  the 
internal  concerns  of  foreign  powers,  and  to 
consider  the  Government  de  facto  as  the  le- 


56    A  Sketch  of  Coiistitutional  Government 

gitimate  government.  Claiming  for  ourselves 
the  absolute  right  of  self-constitution  accord- 
ing to  the  national  will,  we  cannot  deny  the 
same  right  to  others,  Avhether  it  be  in  har- 
mony or  in  discord  with  our  preferences. 
The  moral  and  political  support  of  the  United 
States  was  helpful  and  opportune  because  the 
proclamation  of  the  Republic  was  the  signal 
and  the  occasion  of  the  withdrawal  of  all  the 
European  powers  except  Switzerland  from 
official  relations  with  tke  new  government. 
The  executive  was  compelled  to  submit  to 
the  humiliation  of  treating  with  unaccred- 
ited agents  of  governments  which  refused  to 
grant  thjs  mere  naked  status  of  a  govern- 
ment. Monarchical  sympathies  and  hostility 
to  popular  institutions  doubtless  influenced 
this  suspension  of  diplomatic  intercourse  on 
the  part  of  European  nations,  just  ks  repub- 
lican sympathies  unquestionably  induced  the 
United  States  and  Switzerland  to  act  prompt- 
ly in  the  opposite  direction.  At  the  Court  of 
Madrid,  Austria  refuses  all  social  and  diplo- 
matic intercourse  with  Mexico  to-day,  al- 
though a  quarter  of  a  century  has  elapsed 
since  the  execution  of  Maximilian,  the  alien 
invader.     Governor  Fish  had  cautiously  in- 


m  Spain  and  of  the  Republic,  57 

structed  General  Sickles:  "It  will  be  grate- 
ful to  know  that  you  have  regarded  the  con- 
dition and  prospects  of  the  Eepubhc  such  as 
to  justify  the  discretionary  power  given  you 
in  that  regard." 


58    A  Sketch  of  Constitutional  Government 


CHAPTER  VI. 

Presidents  and  Policy. — Overthrow  of  the  Republic. — Rapid 
Changes. 

The  Monarchy  having  ceased  from  its  own 
want  of  vitality,  the  Kepublic  arose  of  its 
own  virtue,  by  the  law  of  necessity,  a  self- 
evolved  product  from  existing  causes.  To 
return  to  the  self -dethroned  Amadeo  was 
obviously  impossible ;  to  make  a  temporary 
regency  was  inexpedient;  to  try  again  the 
Bourbons  would  have  been  suicidal.  From 
the  inception  of  this  republican  movement 
it  was  uniformly  declared  that  the  assem- 
bly which  proclaimed  a  republic  must  leave 
to  a  convention  the  duty  of  defining  the  or- 
ganization. Opinions  as  to  ultimate  form 
and  details  were  prudently  kept  in  reserve 
until  the  assembling  of  a  sovereign  body 
convened  for  that  specific  purpose.  How- 
ever competent  and  indispensable  the  action 
of  the  Cortes  had  been,  it  was  a  temporary 
arrangement  subject  to  approval,  to  revis- 
ion if  need  be,  to  the  rejection  of  the  more 


in  Spain  and  of  the  Republic.  59 

authoritative  constitutional  assembly.  The 
Government  was  but  the  delegation  of  the 
will  of  the  Cortes.  Elections  were  held 
in  May  for  the  Cortes  Constituyentes,  and 
they  resulted  in  the  triumph  of  the  Eepub- 
lican  party.  N'early  two  hundred  thousand 
electors  exercised  the  right  of  suffrage  in  or- 
der and  tranquillity,  except  where  the  Carlist 
insurgents  disturbed  the  peace.  The  people 
sustained  and  confirmed  the  legitimacy  of 
the  Government  in  spite  of  the  stereotyped 
cries  so  often  heard  in  France  and  England 
— Unity  is  destroyed !  Property  is  inse- 
cure !     The  Church  is  in  danger ! 

The  Council  of  Ministers  elected  by  the 
Cortes  had  an  executive  head,  called  Presi- 
dent of  the  Executive  Power,  and  he  has 
come  to  be  called  the  President  of  the  Ke- 
public.  Estanislao  Figueras,  a  trusted  states- 
man, was  the  first,  but  after  four  months  of 
unmanageable  public  disturbance  he  aban- 
doned the  office  and  withdrew  in  voluntary 
exile  into  France.  Francisco  Pi  y  Margall 
succeeded  him  and  remained  about  six  weeks- 
Nicholas  Salmeron  had  an  equally  brief  ten- 
ure, Avhen  Emilio  Castelar  came  into  office 
and  was  invested  with  powers  that  can  hard- 


60    A  Sketch  of  Co7i8titutional  Government 

\j  be  said  to  have  been  nominated  in  the 
bond.  The  Eepublic  had  immense  difficul- 
ties to  overcome,  and  yet  there  was  shown 
during  its  brief  life  some  aptitude  for  gov- 
ernment. Suffrage  was  established  in  a 
wider  latitude  and  with  less  interference  and 
dictation,  natural  rights  were  embodied  in 
laws,  popular  sovereignty  was  enthroned  as 
the  true  source  of  government,  and  religious 
liberty,  without  which  there  can  be  no  true 
civil  freedom,  was  "  acclaimed  in  all  its  pu- 
rity." The  Minister  of  Grace  and  Justice, 
with  the  approval  of  the  executive  power, 
proposed  to  the  Cortes,  August  2,  1873,  a 
bill  for  the  absolute  separation  of  Church 
and  State.  The  National  Assembly  gave  a 
unanimous  vote  for  the  immediate  emanci- 
pation of  slaves  in  Porto  Rico,  and  the  Ee- 
publicans  favored  abolition  in  Cuba.  De- 
crees were  issued  for  the  abolition  of  titles 
of  nobility  and  the  hereditary  office  of  Grand 
Chancellor  of  the  Indies.  This  had  been 
created  by  Philip  IV.,  and  had  been  enjoyed 
almost  continuously  by  the  same  family  for 
two  and  a  half  centuries.  The  last  incum- 
bent was  the  Duke  of  Alba,  brother  of  the 
Empress  Eugenie.    The  duty  of  the  chancel- 


in  Sjxtin  and  of  the  Repuhlic.  61 

lor  was  to  collect  a  fee  for  authenticating 
every  document,  order,  etc.,  relating  to  Span- 
ish possessions  in  America.  All  previous  at^ 
tempts  to  get  rid  of  the  nuisance  had  failed. 
The  advent  of  the  Kepublic  was  required  to 
accomplish  the  needed  reform.  The  general 
purpose  of  the  Republic  was  to  secure  to  the 
people  a  real  electoral  liberty,  to  prevent 
undue  official  and  bureaucratic  influence,  to 
punish  with  equal  severity  the  violent  press- 
ure of  political  parties  and  of  the  mob,  to 
combine  order,  law,  and  liberty,  to  put  an 
end  to  African  slavery  in  the  Colonies,  and 
follow  emancipation  by  cognate  reforms  as 
the  best  means  of  restoring  peace  and  pros- 
perity to  the  islands. 

Congress  having  rejected  a  proposition 
approving  the  conduct  of  the  Government 
during  the  parliamentary  recess.  President 
Castelar,  at  5.30  a.m.  on  January  3,  18Y4,  re- 
signed his  office.  While  the  Cortes  were 
engaged  in  the  election  of  his  successor,  they 
were  dispersed  by  troops  of  the  garrison  un- 
der the  command  of  General  Pavia,  who 
took  possession  of  the  palace  and  occupied 
the  other  public  buildings  and  the  principal 
thoroughfares.     In  the  memorandum,  Jan- 


62    A  Sketch  of  Constitutional  Government 

uary  25,  1874,  signed  by  Sagasta,  which  the 
"  Executive  Power  of  the  Spanish  Eepubhc  " 
-addressed  to  the  foreign  powers,  it  is  said, 
"The  garrison  of  Madrid  with  wonderful 
prevision  seized  the  moment  for  interference, 
rightly  interpreting  the  wishes  of  the  army, 
the  navy,  and  the  whole  country,  thereby 
saving  in  a  few  hours  the  life  and  honor  of 
the  nation."  This  coup-d^etat  was  followed 
by  a  provisional  government,  a  dictatorship, 
under  Francisco  Serrano,  who  used  the  same 
designation  of  "  President  of  the  Executive 
Power  of  the  Eepublic."  Martial  law  was 
proclaimed,  and  the  expulsion  by  superior 
military  authority  was  justified  on  the  pre- 
text of  a  "  grave  peril  which  menaced  social 
order  and  liberty  after  the  vote  of  censure 
passed  by  the  Chamber  against  the  policy  of 
the  Ministry  presided  over  by  Seiior  Caste- 
lar."  In  two  months  Marshal  Serrano  was 
invested  with,  or  assumed  practically,  abso- 
lute power  as  Chief  of  State.  A  decree  of 
the  Council  separated  the  functions  of  the 
President  of  the  Executive  Power  from  those 
of  the  President  of  the  Council,  conferred 
an  unlimited  presidency  upon  Serrano,  and 
clothed  him  with  extraordinary  powers. 


in  Spain  and  of  the  Republic,  63 

It  would  be  difficult  if  not  impossible  to 
justify  such  an  arbitrary  seizure  by  any  prin- 
ciples having  the  sanction  of  publicists  or 
civilized  public  opinion,  yet  in  Spain  parties 
and  politics  cannot  be  measured  by  the  rules 
which  obtain  elsewhere.  If  we  refuse  to 
judge  Isabella  the  Catholic,  and  her  confess- 
or, Torquemada,  and  the  papal  upholding 
of  the  Inquisition  by  the  Christianity  of  the 
present  day,  so  we  are  constrained  to  apply 
modified  or  elastic  standards  to  government- 
al procedure  in  Spain.  One  of  the  chiefest 
peculiarities  in  Spain,  and  at  the  same  time 
one  of  the  main  hinderances  to  a  republic  or 
to  a  good  government,  is  the  wellnigh  uni- 
versal recognition  of  the  legitimacy  of  a  re- 
sort to  miUtary  power  in  order  to  change 
the  administration  or  accomplish  political 
reforms.  Such  Republicans  as  Castelar  re- 
pudiate pronunciamentos  and  the  like  arbi- 
trary agencies,  but  generally  Conservatives 
and  Liberals,  Carlists  and  Republicans,  ac- 
cept, apply,  or  submit  to  such  expedients  for 
attaining  their  ends,  and  no  party  in  Spain 
can  find  fault  with  others  in  that  respect. 
General  Cushing,  in  1875,  wrote,  "All  parties, 
one  after  the  other,  have  had  recourse  to 


64    A  Sketch  of  Constitutional  Government 

conspiracy,  violence,  and  usurpation  in  order 
to  attain  their  personal  or  party  ends.  It 
was  by  military  violence  that  Prim,  Serrano, 
and  Topete  overthrew  Queen  Isabel.  It 
was  by  military  violence  that  Serrano  be- 
came President  by  the  will  of  Pa  via.  .  .  . 
So  that  neither  the  militarism  nor  the  ille- 
gahty  of  the  movement  tends  in  the  least 
degree  to  repel  the  acceptance  of  it  in  any 
part  of  the  country.  And  quite  as  little  re- 
pulsion is  produced  by  the  suddenness  of  the 
movement  or  the  brief  time  occupied  in  its 
consummation.  On  the  night  of  February 
11,  1873,  all  Spain  went  to  bed  a  Monarchy 
and  woke  up  a  Eepublic.  In  like  manner, 
on  January  2, 1874,  the  Republican  dictator- 
ship of  Castelar  disappeared  in  a  night  to 
give  place  to  the  Conservative  dictatorship 
of  Serrano.  On  the  morning  of  December 
31,  1874,  it  did  not  appear  at  all  extraordi- 
nary to  the  Spaniards  in  waking  up  to  J3.nd 
that  the  Eepublic  had  vanished  and  the  Mon- 
archy returned  with  the  dramatic  celerity  of 
a  change  of  scenery  at  the  opera."  Those 
who  overthrew  the  Eepublic  used  the  army 
to  "  satisfy  the  instinct  of  self-preservation," 
"patriotically   seized   a   dictatorship,"    and 


in  Spain  and  of  the  Hepuhlic,  65 

claimed  that  they  were  identified  with  the 
revolution  of  1868,  "with  the  political  sig- 
nificance of  that  glorious  uprising,"  and  that 
they  were  united  on  the  basis  of  a  demo- 
cratic code  in  the  Constitution  of  18G9,  "in 
the  enjoyment  of  the  liberties  which  it  con- 
cedes, and  above  all  in  the  strict  and  vigilant 
use  of  the  guarantees  with  which  it  sur- 
rounds the  cause  of  order."  Outside  of  Spain 
such  language  seems  to  be  the  distempered 
ravings  of  intoxication,  and  is  antipodal  to 
the  action  it  vindicates ;  but  in  Spain  politics 
and  public  opinion  have  a  rule  and  standard 
of  their  own.  Constitutional  limitations 
have  no  force.  Supposed  political  necessity 
justifies  any  assumption.  Discretion  is  the 
measure  of  power,  and  Mr.  Calhoun's  aphor- 
ism finds  confirmation  that  there  is  no  differ- 
ence between  a  government  having  all  power 
and  a  government  having  the  right  to  take 
what  powers  it  pleases. 
5 


QQ    A  Sketch  of  Constitutional  Government 


CHAPTER  VII. 

Causes  of  the  Fall. — Account  of  the  Presidents. — Abrupt 
Transition. — The  Army. — False  Hopes. —  Madrid. 

To  one  desiring  the  permanence  of  the  re- 
pubHc  and  thinking  that  form  of  government 
the  most  successful  in  attaining  justice  and 
freedom,  it  is  natural  to  inquire  anxiously 
into  the  causes  which  led  to  such  a  sudden 
disappointment  of  hopes,  such  a  rapid  col- 
lapse of  a  government  having  promise  of 
stability  in  its  inherent  rightness  and  in 
the  ability  of  its  leaders.  When  Prim  was 
asked  why  he  did  not  establish  a  republic  in 
1868,  he  replied,  "  It  would  have  been  a  re- 
public without  republicans."  In  1873  there 
seemed  to  exist  a  strong  republican  feeling, 
but  the  governmental  policy  of  Spain  has 
never  been  favorable  to  the  growth  of  re- 
publican practices,  to  the  training  of  the 
people  for  democratic  institutions,  to  famil- 
iarizing them  with  home  rule,  individual 
judgment,  personal  independence.  A  re- 
public is  the  highest  development  of  civil 


in  Spai?i  and  of  the  BepuUic,  67 

government.  In  a  monarchy  a  few  capa- 
ble men  may  rule ;  in  a  republic  the  many 
are  to  govern,  and  need  to  be  continually 
disciplined  for  their  high  functions.  To  this 
general  cause  of  want  of  training  may  be 
superadded  errors  of  leaders,  divisions  in 
ranks,  and  still  other  reasons  beyond  the 
control  of  those  charged  with  the  admin- 
istration. For  centuries  Spain  had  had  a 
monarchy,  class  interests  with  titles  and 
privileges,  and  an  ecclesiastical  hierarchy  in 
full  accord  with  monarchy  and  aristocracy, 
and  often  in  shameful  tolerance  of  their  vi- 
cious practices.  The  traditions  of  the  coun- 
try, the  social  influence,  the  literature,  the 
schools,  the  Church  presiding  over  infancy, 
marriage  and  death,  the  wealth,  were  all  ad- 
verse to  popular  government.  The  princi- 
ples of  politics  represented  in  a  republic 
are  distasteful  to  royalty  and  to  dominant 
classes.  Besides  the  Monarchists  there  were 
the  Carlists,  bitter,  reactionary,  irreconcilable, 
with  journals,  villages,  and  a  willing  priest- 
hood at  their  back.  The  military  organiza- 
tion, compact,  mobile,  subordinate  to  ambi- 
tious, conspiring  officers,  was  the  enemy  of 
the  Kepublic.     In  the  Peninsula  revolutions 


68    A  Sketch  of  Constitutional  Government 

have  been  chronic,  and  property  always  dreads 
disorder,  sudden  changes,  anarchy.  The  feu- 
dal system  had  been  but  partially  extirpated. 
Civil  and  ecclesiastical  jurisdiction  was  only 
partially  limited  and  defined.  The  revenue 
system,  with  custom-houses  at  frontiers  and 
octroi  tolls  in  every  town,  w^as  then  as  now 
corrupt,  and  the  boldest  and  best  shrank 
from  an  attempt  to  reform  the  abuses.  Na- 
tional expenditures  exceeded  income,  and  pen- 
sions and  civil  list  and  contracts  made  a 
horde  of  greedy  dependants.  Bureaucracy 
flourished  in  worst  form.  The  situation  was 
environed  with  almost  superhuman  difficul- 
ties, and  obvious  reforms  for  admitted  and 
deplored  abuses  seemed  impossible.  The 
hostile  interests  and  opinions  became  active. 
In  Great  Britain  and  the  United  States  we 
see  what  arguments  and  combinations  can 
do  to  sustain  monopolies,  trusts,  and  legal- 
ized wrongs.  In  France,  in  the  journals  and 
utterances  of  public  men  we  have  an  illus- 
tration anew  of  the  old  fable  of  the  lamb  in 
the  stream  below  muddying  the  water  for 
his  lupine  majesty  above.  Everything  done 
by  the  Eepublic  is  perverted.  Everything 
favorable  to  regulated  liberty  is  decried.   Ev- 


in  Spain  and  of  the  Repuhlic,  69 

erything  that  tends  to  popular  government 
is  discredited  and  opposed.  Every  little  pop- 
ular disturbance  or  lawlessness  is  distorted 
and  magnified  and  made  to  exceed  in  enor- 
mity centuries  of  tyranny  and  cruelty  and 
horrible  wrong  by  royalty,  aristocracy,  and 
the  Church,  with  their  selfish  and  venal  min- 
ions, and  all  possible  factions  and  divisio^js 
are  fomented.  Every  disorder,  defeat,  inter- 
national complication,  is  hailed  with  joy.  The 
Monarchists  are  enemies  in  the  camp.  Pa- 
triotism is  secondary  to  self-aggrandizement 
and  to  the  restoration  of  a  dynasty.  JSToth- 
ing  is  left  undone  to  discredit  the  Eepublic 
and  to  make  it  a  failure,  to  produce  crises, 
to  promote  obstruction  and  confusion,  and  to 
create  an  apparent  necessity  for  the  coming 
back  of  the  ancien  regime^  and  so  in  Spain. 
The  enemies  of  the  new  government  availed 
themselves  of  the  army  and  of  every  agency 
for  its  overthrow.  It  ought  to  be  added  that 
during  the  Eepublic  three  wars  were  in  prog- 
ress— the  Cuban  war,  the  Federalist  in  the 
South,  and  the  Carlist.  The  last  was  so  im- 
portant and  formidable  as  to  demand  for  its 
suppression  the  coalition  of  all  parties,  and 
the  concentration  of  every  energy.     And 


10    A  Sketch  of  Constitutional  Government 

hence,  until  that  object  was  attained,  the 
Eepubhcans  felt  constrained  to  postpone  re- 
forms in  the  military  service,  reduction  in 
public  expenditures,  diminution  of  useless  of- 
fices, reduction  of  the  enormous  pension  list, 
separation  of  Church  and  State,  abolition 
of  slavery,  and  the  adaptation  of  the  Con- 
stitution to  a  republican  form  of  govern- 
ment. 

The  fall  of  the  Kepublic  is  so  often  used 
as  an  argument  conclusive  against  the  adapt- 
edness  of  such  a  form  of  government  to  Eu- 
ropean peoples  that  a  fuller  consideration  of 
the  causes  may  not  be  inappropriate. 

{a)  The  first  suggestion,  obviously,  is  as  to 
the  Presidents  on  whom  the  people  relied 
and  to  whom  naturally  all  eyes  were  turned. 
Each  alternately  was  looked  to  as  the  Pali- 
nurus  to  guide  the  ship  of  State  between 
Scylla  and  Charybdis  and  amid  the  storms. 
They  were  not  men  of  executive  capacity 
or  constructive  faculties.  They  had  been 
political  seers,  eloquent  theorists,  advanced 
thinkers  in  the  science  of  human  rights  and 
remedies,  but  they  were  deficient  in  the  gen- 
ius of  common-sense,  in  the  mastery  of  de- 
tails, in  the  rare  endowment  of  adapting  • 


m  Spain  and  of  the  Repiihllc,  71 

government  and  laws  to  novel  and  sudden 
emergencies. 

EsTANisLAo  FiGUERAs  was  the  first.  An 
adroit  parliamentarian,  a  loyal  Eepublican,  a 
man  of  integrity,  a  disciple  of  Proudhon,  he 
lacked  firmness  of  purpose  and  strength  of 
will.  Hesitating,  irresolute,  letting  "  I  dare 
not"  wait  upon  "  I  would,"  he  became  discour- 
aged, his  heavy  responsibilities  confused  and 
intimidated  him,  and  he  abandoned  his  post. 
For  two  days  he  was  sought  in  vain,  and  af- 
terwards "turned  up"  a  refugee  in  France. 
He  had  a  habit,  when  President,  of  rising  at 
five  o'clock  in  the  morning,  and  of  going  at 
that  early  hour  to  his  office.  The  Madrilenos, 
indignant  at  this  overthrow  of  their  prac- 
tices, declared  that  if  he  thought  to  oblige 
them  to  rise  so  early,  he  deceived  himself,  for 
it  would  only  turn  out  that  they  would  retire 
a  little  later.  And,  in  fact,  a  number  of  poli- 
ticians went  to  salute  the  President  before 
they  sought  their  beds. 

Feancisco  Pi  y  Margall  is  a  man  of  first- 
rate  ability,  a  writer  of  classical  purity,  an 
historian  of  art,  a  profound  lawyer,  and  is 
now  engaged,  as  is  Castelar,  in  writing  a 
.  history  of  Spain.     He  is  German  in  his  type 


12   A  Sketch  of  Comtitiitional  Government 

of  thinking,  and  is  deficient  in  the  arts  of 
the  successful  politician.  Proudhon  is  also 
his  ideal,  and  he  follows  to  the  extreme  his 
economic  or  socialistic  theories.  Apparent- 
ly he  accepts  his  master's  brochure,  le  prin- 
cipe  federatif^  and  would  organize  the  na- 
tion, if  not  wider  peoples,  by  a  reciprocal 
agreement  among  individuals  and  communi- 
ties. He  is  a  protectionist,  and  would  be  a 
tyrant,  as  were  those  of  ancient  Greece,  if 
he  were  not  restrained  by  his  benevolence  of 
heart,  which  makes  him  incomparable  as  a 
man  but  unsafe  as  a  governor.  At  a  meet- 
ing of  the  Kepublicans  of  Madrid,  in  Febru- 
ary, 1888,  to  celebrate  the  anniversary  of  the 
Eepublic,  he  gave  a  programme  of  his  views, 
in  which  he  said  he  desired  freedom  of  work, 
emancipation  of  municipalities,  compulsory 
and  gratuitous  education,  abolition  of  lot- 
teries, '^  suppression  of  the  budget  of  wor- 
ship," and  the  appropriation  of  the  eight 
million  dollars  paid  to  the  clergy  to  the  es- 
tablishment of  elementary,  normal,  and  in- 
dustrial schools.  Obstinate  in  his  personal 
convictions,  in  the  conclusions  of  the  closet, 
by  a  singular  incongruity  of  character  he 
has  much  credulity  and   flexibility  in  the 


in  Spain  and  of  the  Repuhlic.  73 

presence  of  men.  His  accession  to  the  pres- 
idency awakened  strong  expectations  that  he 
would  develop  into  a  broad-minded,  success- 
ful statesman,  and  that  what  Figueras  from 
inertness  failed  to  do  Pi  would  achieve  in 
excess.  Fatal  illusion !  His  ephemeral  ex- 
altation contracted  an  horizon  previously  too 
narrow.  At  the  utmost,  a  good  administrator 
In  peaceful  times;  a  Cavour,  a  Bismarck, 
never.  General  Sickles,  at  the  beginning  of 
the  Kepublic,  said  of  him  that  he  was  in  per- 
sonal appearance  and  in  many  traits  of  char- 
acter, intellectual  and  moral,  like  Mr.  Cal- 
houn, and  was  universally  regarded  as  a 
trustworthy  officer  and  a  good  citizen.  Some 
months  later  he  said  that  Pi  y  Margall  aban- 
doned power  because  he  w^as  unwilling  to 
stop  disintegration  by  force,  and  unable  to 
prevent  it  by  timely  political  action. 

Nicolas  Salmeron,  now  a  professor  in 
the  university  at  Madrid,  is  a  doctrinaire, 
a  savant,  a  philosopher,  an  ideologist.  It 
seemed  to  him  easy  to  transfer  into  practical 
life  the  captivating  speculations  of  his  great 
German  masters,  and  he  presented  them, 
first  as  deputy  then  as  minister,  with  a  man- 
ly eloquence.     He  knows  little  of  financial 


74   A  Sketch  of  Constitutional  Government 

or  economic  questions,  and  prefers  his  books 
and  lecture-room  to  the  hard  realities  of  po- 
litical conflicts.  In  1887  he  resigned  as  depu- 
ty because  of  not  being  in  accord  with  his 
electors  in  their  radicalism. 

Emilio  Castelak. — It  is  not  easy  to  write 
impartially  of  this  eminent  and  excellent 
man.  In  Spain,  in  America,  in  the  civilized 
world,  he  is  renowned  as  a  rhetorician  and* 
an  orator.  Even  his  political  enemies  (he 
has  no  personal  ones)  concede  immense  ex- 
cellence as  an  orator.  His  friends  rank  him 
among  the  most  distinguished  speakers  of  all 
time.  On  December  20, 1872,  after  a  speech 
from  Castelar  in  favor  of  abolishing  slavery 
in  Porto  Rico,  the  Minister  of  State  (Martos), 
himself  no  mean  orator,  closed  the  debate 
thus,  "  The  debate  is  closed.  Seilor  Oastelar 
has  spoken  the  last  word — the  slaves  in  Por- 
to Eico  are  already  free.  The  bill  the  Gov- 
ernment will  bring  in  can  only  give  legal 
sanction  and  form  to  the  inspired  utterance 
of  the  world's  greatest  orator."  On  Febru- 
ary 7,  1888,  after  a  speech  in  the  Congress, 
business  was  perforce  suspended,  the  boister- 
ous hurrahs  were  continued  for  fifteen  min- 
utes, congratulations  greeted  from  all  sides 


in  Spain  and  of  the  Republic.  75 

of  the  chamber,  and  Sagasta,  the  Prime-min- 
ister— the  same  Sagasta  who  as  Minister  of 
State,  in  an  official  paper  in  1874,  had  spo- 
ken contemptuously  of  "his  arrogant  self- 
conceit  and  ill -restrained  demagogism" — 
left  the  Government  bench,  crossed  the  hall, 
embraced  the  speaker,  and  warmly  commend- 
ed his  patriotism  and  eloquence.  The  elo- 
quence lacks  spontaneity ;  it  is  studied  and 
dramatic,  and  labors  for  immediate  applause. 
The  day,  the  hour,  the  audience,  everything 
is  prearranged.  You  laugh,  you  cry,  you  sur- 
render yourself  to  the  enchantment,  but  the 
speeches  are  seldom  embodied  into  political 
acts,  into  laws.  The  god  of  speech  is  not  a 
statesman.  Castelar  is  an  egoist  and  very 
vain. .  The  common  caricature  in  the  shop- 
windows  is  a  peacock  with  spread  tail  and 
Castelar's  head.  The  popular  nickname  is 
emholado^  a  bull  with  balls  on  his  horns.  A 
rival  said  of  him  that  he  so  coveted  the  di- 
gito  monstrari  that  he  never  saw  a  marriage 
without  wishing  to  be  the  bride,  nor  a  funer- 
al without  wishing  to  be  the  corpse. 

His  short  trial  as  President  was  a  series  of 
misadventures  and  failures.  He  planned,  but 
the  plans  came  to  grief.     He  failed  to  re- 


76    A  Sketch  of  Constitutional  Government 

model  the  army,  was  clumsy  in  the  Virgin- 
ius  controversy,  quailed  before  the  Pope  in 
the  appointment  of  some  bishops,  was  not 
courageous  in  executing  his  emancipation 
views,  and  had  inextricable  disorder  in  ad- 
ministration. I^othing  was  done  with  his 
bill  separating  Church  and  State,  and  his 
draft  of  a  federal  constitution  showed  little 
acquaintance  with  politics  and  government. 
In  fact,  the  Spanish  Eepublic  had  no  Morris, 
no  Hamilton,  no  Madison,  no  Washington. 

As  a  Kepublican,  Castelar  has  lost  much  of 
his  following,  and  an  invisible  thread  is  the 
only  tie  that  binds  him  to  his  party.  His 
old  associates  say  that  but  for  the  remem- 
brances of  the  ancient  tribune  of  the  people 
he  would  be  a  liberal  Monarchist.  This  judg- 
ment is  harsh  and  unjust.  For  years  he  has 
been  in  Europe  the  ablest  and  most  conspic- 
uous advocate  of  popular  rights,  of  freedom 
of  religion,  and  recently,  with  emphasis,  af- 
firmed that  he  was  a  Republican,  heart  and 
mind  and  soul,  but  favored  the  coming  of  a 
republic  by  evolution  instead  of  by  revolu- 
tion.^'    By  what  process  a  republic  can  be 

*  The  ill-advised  mutiny  of  1886  was  a  clear  gain  for  Moii- 


in  Spain  and  of  the  Republic,  17 

evolved  without  a  compact,  aggressive  Re- 
publican party  in  the  active  use  of  the  usual 
agencies  for  exposing  errors  and  wrongs  and 
enlightening  public  opinion,  history  gives  us 
no  l%ht.  Certainly  it  will  never  be  evolved 
by  chance,  nor  as  the  outcome  of,  nor  by  ac- 
quiescence in,  the  domination  of  royalty,  class 
interests  and  prerogatives,  and  the  alliance 
of  civil  and  ecclesiastical  power.  Castelar 
may  not  keep  pace  with  some  wild  modern 
iconoclasts  and  Nihilists  and  Anarchists,  but 
whoever  has  watched  with  hope  and  sympa- 
thy the  great  unceasing,  varying  struggle  for 
freedom  in  Europe,  battle-scarred,  debt-op- 
pressed. Church-crushed,  conscience-enslaved, 

arcliy  and  a  serious  blow  to  Republicanism.  Castelar  pub- 
lished a  letter  respecting  the  revolt,  and  the  tone  of  it  shows 
a  feeling  of  bitterness  as  well  as  of  regret.     He  says, 

"I  denounce  with  all  the  energy  of  my  soul  the  last  mili- 
tary sedition,  it  being  my  firmest  conviction  that  pronHn- 
ciamientos^  even  if  they  should  triumph  under  the  name  and 
advocacy  of  our  Republic,  will  lead  us  to  the  CaBsarian  Prae- 
torianism  of  old  Rome,  not  to  liberty  and  democracy.  I  have 
said,  and  I  repeat  it  now,  that  events  like  those  most  deplora- 
ble ones  of  Monday  last  justify  our  being  denominated  the 
Turkey  of  the  West.  I  reaffirm  my  resolution  to  accept  the 
tremendous  responsibility  of  power  only  when  the  people  le- 
gally convoked,  or  the  Cortes  legally  constituted,  demand  this 
by  an  express  vote." 


78   A  Sketch  of  Constitutional  Goveimment 

royalty-ridden,  class-dominated  Europe,  can 
have  only  generous  charity  and  exalted  ad- 
miration for  one  whose  pure  life  and  culti- 
vated intelligence  and  large  ability  and 
quenchless  zeal  and  burning  eloquence  nave 
been  consecrated  as  the  John  the  Baptist  of 
the  gospel  of  universal  emancipation. 

A  republic,  the  rational  logic  of  enlight- 
ened public  authority,  with  agents  having 
the  indecision  of  Figueras,  the  pliancy  of  Pi 
y  Margall,  the  ideologism  of  Salmeron,  the 
theatrical  spirit  of  Castelar,  had  not  a  hope- 
ful outlook.  Men  are  but  the  embodiments 
of  thoughts,  and  nearly  all  great  enterprises 
and  institutions  crystallize  around  individual 
men.  In  critical  moments  great  actors  have 
the  elan,  the  prophecy,  the  prestige  of  suc- 
cess. In  all  countries,  especially  in  those  ac- 
customed to  monarchical  institutions,  the  peo- 
ple find  the  reflection  of  their  lives,  their 
interests,  their  glories,  in  a  dynastic  entity 
or  in  a  hero.  Other  more  potent  causes 
than  the  weakness,  the  nullity,  of  the  chiefs 
contributed  to  the  failure.  In  the  absence 
of  these  the  Kepublic  would  have  survived 
presidential  incompetency ;  these  causes,  vi- 
tal and  operative,  the  Kepublic  would  have 


in  Spain  and  of  the  Republic,  19 

perished  even  under  the  vigorous  leadership 
of  such  a  man  as  Prim. 

(S)  As  a  second  cause  may  be  mentioned 
the  abrupt  transition  from  a  monarchy.  The 
people  had  had  no  preliminary  training  in 
self-government,  nor  any  sufficient  demo- 
cratic education.  Amadeo  leaving  Spain 
without  a  government,  the  Eepublicans  pos- 
sessed themselves  of  it,  but  did  not  know 
what  to  do  with  it,  and  did  not  comprehend 
the  exigencies  and  responsibilities  of  the  new 
and  sudden  situation.  What  kind  of  a  re- 
public was  it  to  be  ?  What  the  form  and 
functions  of  the  organism  ?  and  what  kind  of 
a  head  of  the  executive  power  ?  were  serious 
questions.  Shall  the  President  be  chosen  for 
a  long  term  and  be  re-eligible,  or  for  a  short 
term  ?  In  our  Washington  the  monarchical 
traditions,  which  sat  very  loosely,  were  easi- 
ly broken,  and  the  union  of  States  was  formed 
and  consolidated  under  a  written,  previously 
adopted,  organic  law.  In  the  South  Ameri- 
can republics,  as  remote  from  the  monarchi- 
cal centre  as  we  were,  but  without  our  home- 
rule  training  and  our  inheritance  of  English 
law  and  liberties,  there  have  been  struggles, 
contentions,  tentative  experimentations  (not 


80   A  Sketch  of  Constitutional  Gover7iment 

yet  ended)  before  reaching  tranquillity  and 
order.  The  measures  adopted  were  trivial, 
or  not  pushed  to  proper  results,  or  not  put 
upon  a  high  plane.  The  press  was  free,  but 
instead  of  serious  discussions  there  were  li- 
cense and  incendiarism.  Primary  schools 
were  neglected.  Political  associations  were 
noisy  and  aimless,  rather  than  practical  or 
valuable.  The  wisdom  that  was  hoped  for 
did  not  come,  and  in  these  un-Minerva-like 
days  had  not  time  to  come. 

{c)  The  badly  organized  army  remained  in 
statu  quo.  This  instrument  of  peace  and  or- 
der, when  it  is  rightly  controlled  and  disci- 
plined, had  not  been  taught  its  true  position 
of  subordination,  and  had  not  the  sense  of 
obedience.  The  time  was,  besides,  unpropi- 
tious  for  military  reforms.  Three  wars,  as 
has  been  stated,  were  in  progress  against  Cu- 
ban, Carlist,  and  federal  insurgents.  Soldiers 
and  their  officers  were  ignorant  of  the  first 
principles  of  Republicanism,  and  of  the  truo 
duties  of  men  organized  and  armed  at  public 
expense.  They  regarded  themselves  as  the 
sovereigns  of  the  nation,  the  true  arbiters  of 
its  destiny,  as  the  saviors,  and  hence  claimed 
the  right  to  rule.     Inter  arma  silent  leges. 


i)i  Spain  and  of  the  Republic,  81 

The  supremacy  of  the  civil  over  the  miUtary 
was  a  surprising  and  an  offensive  doctrine, 
and  they  complained  and  conspired.  The 
monarchy  was  preferred  as  giving  opportu- 
nities for  promotion,  and  they  coveted  the 
decorations,  the  nobiliary  titles,  the  gala  fes- 
tivities, the  sudden  advancements.  Every 
man  educated  in  the  military  schools  was  a 
Monarchist.  All  waited  for  an  occasion  to 
show  hostility  to  the  Eepublic,  and  it  was 
not  long  in  coming.  General  Pavia,  who 
himself  had  participated  in  the  insurrection 
of  1866,  was  selected  as  the  wilHng  agent  for 
the  overthrow.  Any  other  bold,  ambitious 
officer  would  have  done  as  well.  The  blow 
was  struck.    It  was  fatal. 

{d)  Hope  disappointed' maketh  the  heart 
sick.  After  the  excitement  and  the  disap- 
pointment of  Quixotic  expectations,  there  en- 
sued with  the  masses  a  lassitude  of  mind  and 
weariness  of  spirit.  The  change  in  the  gov- 
ernment did  not  supersede  the  need  of  labor, 
nor  take  away  poverty  and  suffering.  Peo- 
ple who  were  Kepublicans  were  disheartened, 
and  sank  into  apathy.  Capital  and  credit 
were  frightened,  and  there  were  repeated  an- 
nouncements that  taxes  must  be  increased. 
6 


82    A  Sketch  of  Co7istitutional  Government 

Carlism  was  defiant  and  confident ;  the  fed- 
eral movement  was  protracted;  municipali- 
ties were  in  rebellion;  disturbances  were 
unchecked  ;  finances  were  in  disorder.  The 
people  were  fatigued,  willing  for  a  change, 
and  would  have  abandoned  themselves  to 
.any  adventurer  or  usurper.  The  inherited 
Mussulman  fatalism  reasserted  itself,  and  the 
act  of  brutal  force,  of  positive  treason,  en- 
countered no  resistance. 

(e)  Another  cause  hastening  the  downfall 
is  the  unique  condition  of  Madrid,  whose  in- 
habitants live  on  the  Government,  and  by 
whose  favor  they  consume  largely  of  the  pub- 
lic revenues.  Bureaucracy,  centralization, 
official  corruption,  find  theatre  and  stimulus 
in  the  capital.  The  contesting  parties  form 
among  themselves  a  kind  of  society  of  mutual 
succor,  and  there  is  a  great  company  of  pen- 
sioners, dependants,  and  hungry  expectants. 
As  the  head  and  heart  of  the  nation,  Madrid 
is  the  seat  and  focus  of  the  conspiracy  of  the 
Conservatives  and  the  Liberals  to  preserve 
the  dominance  of  the  capital  and  keep  up 
the  source  of  supply  of  spoils  and  tripotage. 
Eeforms,  here  as  elsewhere  in  Spain,  in  the 
civil  administration  are  wellnigh  impossible 


in  Spam  and  of  the  Hepuhlic,  83 

because  the  political  parties  and  many  prom- 
inent leaders  are  interested  directly  or  indi- 
rectly in  the  continuance  of  the  abuses.  The 
Eepublic  threatened  the  trade  of  the  image- 
makers,  and  they  were  clamorous  for  its  over- 
throw. The  Passion  play  at  Ober-Ammer- 
gau  makes  the  money-changers,  expelled  with 
cords  from  the  temple,  the  active,  unscrupu- 
lous instigators  of  the  resistance  to  the  Sav- 
iour, and  the  prompters  and  bribers  of  Judas 
in  the  betrayal.  To  cleanse  the  Augean  sta- 
ble and  check  the  infamy  of  life  of  priests 
and  prelates,  even  the  fearless  spirit  of  Inno- 
cent was  unable.  It  was  easier  to  crush  by 
fire  and  sword  the  heresy  fed  by  the  scandals. 


84    A  Sketch  of  Constitutional  Government 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

Pronunciamento  for  Alfonso. 

Meanwhile  the  dictatorship  continued  to 
administer  public  affairs  in  the  name  and 
under  the  external  forms  of  a  republic ;  but 
there  were  constant  croppings-out  of  tenden- 
cies or  purposes  looking  to  the  re-establish- 
ment of  the  monarchy  in  the  person  of  Don 
Alfonso,  son  of  Isabel,  or  of  some  foreign 
prince. 

The  change  from  Castelar  to  Serrano  did 
not  suspend  diplomatic  intercourse  with  the 
United  States.  In  accordance  with  the  rule 
of  action  in  cases  of  change  of  authority, 
General  Gushing  presented  his  credentials. 
The  European  powers  continued  to  abstain 
from  recognition.  Under  the  initiation  of 
Germany,  they  came  to  perceive  the  wisdom 
of  the  policy  observed  by  the  Union,  but  were 
restrained  by  the  perverse  refusal  of  Kussia 
to  change  her  attitude. 

Whatever  may  have  been  the  intentions 


m  Spain  and  of  the  RepuWic.  85 

of  Serrano's  Government,  there  was  an  im- 
possibility of  action  in  many  matters  of  do- 
mestic or  internal  reform.  The  war  against 
the  Carlists  had  been  going  on  with  various 
fortunes  when  the  tranquillity  and  apparent 
security  at  Madrid  were  disturbed  by  a  pro- 
nunciamento  from  a  detachment  of  the  army, 
commanded  by  Martinez  de  Campos,  in  fa- 
vor of  the  enthronement  of  Don  Alfonso  de 
Borbon.  The  great  body  of  the  Army  of  the 
North  was  in  ready  sympathy  with  this 
movement.  The  Government  fell  without  a 
struggle  for  existence.  On  December  31, 
1874,  there  was  announced  a  regency  minis- 
try under  the  presidency  of  the  lately  impris- 
oned Antonio  Canovas  del  Castillo,  a  states- 
man of  comprehensive  views,  high  character, 
and  of  great  ability.  The  late  Ministers  and 
the  Eepublicans  remained  undisturbed  in  Ma- 
drid. There  was  general  acquiescence  in  the 
change.  Public  authorities  sent  in  their  ad- 
hesion. The  army,  the  most  potential  of  all 
the  factors  in  Spanish  politics,  gave  its  cord- 
ial support.  Alfonso  was  introduced  by  a 
pronunciamento  similar  to  General  Monk's 
action  in  England,  and  the  intruding  or 
usurping  government,  not  chosen   by  the 


86    A  fS/cefch  of  Constitutional  Government 

Cortes,  was  accepted  as  legitimate.  The  Lib- 
eral Constitution  of  1869  was  ignored  as  a 
nullity,  and  that  of  1845  was  accepted  be- 
cause of  the  abdication  of  Isabel  and  her 
assent  in  various  forms  to  the  accession  of 
-Alfonso.  Universal  suffrage  had  been  a 
distinguishing  feature;  Canovas  suppressed 
and  substituted  qualifications  which  exclud- 
ed half  the  voters.  It  needs  to  be  repeated 
in  connection  with  this  usurpation  and  nulli- 
fication of  law  that  Spanish  statesmen  seem 
to  have  no  conception  of  regular  constitu- 
tional government,  and  expect  changes,  not 
so  much  by  orderly,  prescribed  processes  of 
succession  or  election  or  legislation  as  by  the 
means  of  tumultuary  uprisings  or  the  de- 
mands of  soldiers.  In  a  published  manifesto, 
Alfonso  was  made  to  profess  ideas  of  consti- 
tutional administration,  and  yet  among  his 
first  political  acts  was  the  acceptance  of  the 
new  Syllabus  of  the  Vatican.  By  royal  de- 
crees, certain  real  property  held  by  the  State 
was  restored  to  the  Church,  and  the  clergy 
were  again  charged  on  the  public  treasury. 
This  favoritism  towards  the  religious  orders 
was  of  a  piece  with  the  general  reaction 


in  Spain  and  of  the  Republic,  87 

against  the  more  liberal  and  advanced  views 
of  the  recent  governments. 

'-'  The  right  of  public  assembly  was  abro- 
gated, free  instruction  was  abolished,  the  Jes- 
uit schools  were  re-established,  and  liberal 
professors  were  expelled  "  from  the  universi- 
ties. 

These  royal  ordinances,  or  pragmatica,  so 
alien  to  our  notions  of  government,  have  been 
claimed  by  most  European  sovereigns  as  the 
prerogative  of  the  supreme  legislators  of 
their  kingdoms.  They  are  sometimes  mere 
executive  orders,  sometimes  supplementary 
to  legislative  enactments,  but  have  been  per- 
verted into  arbitrary  acts  of  tyrannj^,  and 
have  become  "  effectual  levers  "  for  thwart- 
ing the  popular  or  legislative  will,  or  for 
"  overturning  the  liberties  of  the  nation." 


88    A  Sketch  of  Constitutional  Government 


CHAPTER  IX. 

Constitution  of  18*76. — Freedom  of  Worship  in  Spain. 

The  new  Government,  with  deliberation, 
undertook  in  1876  the  preparation  of  a  con- 
stitution, which  was  submitted  and  adopted, 
and  is  now  the  Constitution  of  the  Govern- 
ment of  Spain.  Its  prominent  features  are 
hereditary  monarchy  in  the  person  and  fam- 
ily of  Don  Alfonso  XII.,  and  a  legislative 
assembly  of  two  branches,  the  Senate  and 
the  Congress.  The  Senate,  while  not,  as  the 
House  of  Lords,  a  devolving  of  the  right  to 
a  share  of  legislative  power  by  mere  heredi- 
tary succession,  is  an  aristocratic  body  com- 
posed of  three  classes.  1.  Senators  in  their 
own  right,  such  as  sons  of  the  King,  gran- 
dees of  Spain  having  a  Jfixed  income  of  six- 
ty thousand  pesetas,  captains-general  of  the 
army,  admirals  of  the  navy,  the  Patriarch 
of  the  Indies,  archbishops,  etc.  2.  One  hun- 
dred persons  nominated  by  the  Crown  for 
life.  3.  One  hundred  and  fifty  persons  elect- 
ed by  the  corporations  and  the  larger  tax- 


in  Spain  and  of  the  Republic.  89 

payers.  Numbers  2  and  3  are  to  be  taken 
from  certain  prescribed  political,  military, 
literary,  titular,  or  proprietary  classes.  The 
Congress  of  Deputies,  founded  on  general 
suffrage,  regulated  by  the  law  of  elections, 
consists  of  persons  chosen  for  five  years  by 
electoral  districts,  in  the  proportion  of  one 
deputy  to  every  fifty  thousand  of  the  popu- 
lation. 

A  step  in  advance  was  taken  on  the  Church 
question.  Article  XI.  reads  thus :  "  The  Cath- 
olic Apostolic  Eoman  religion  is  that  of  the 
State.  The  nation  obhges  itself  to  maintain 
the  worship  and  its  ministers.  No  person 
shall  be  molested  in  the  territory  of  Spain 
for  his  religious  opinions,  nor  for  the  exer- 
cise of  his  particular  worship,  saving  the  re- 
spect due  to  Christian  morality.  Neverthe- 
less, no  other  ceremonies  nor  manifestations 
in  public  will  be  permitted  than  those  of  the 
religion  of  the  State." 

This  cautious  provision  of  toleration  was 
opposed  vehemently  in  both  branches  of  the 
Cortes,  Sefior  Martinez  Izquierdo  (the  bishop 
who  was  assassinated  by  a  priest  at  the  vesti- 
bule of  a  church  in  Madrid,  April  18,  1886), 
taking  the  lead  in  the  opposition ;  but  it 


90    A  Sketch  of  ConstitiUional  Government 

passed  by  a  large  majority,  having  had  the 
cordial  support  of  Canovas. 

Bergson,  the  French  translator  of  Ileflfter's 
"  International  Law,"  speaking  "  de  les  rap- 
ports de  rfighse  et  de  I'Etat"  in  France, 
says  that  the  former  exclusive  protection  in 
favor  of  the  Catholic  Church  has  undergone 
a  profound  modification,  viz.,  that  "to  the 
political  principle  of  the  unity  of  faith  has 
succeeded  the  social  principle  of  the  hberty 
of  conscience  and  religion."  A  somewhat 
similar  modification  of  the  former  exclusive 
favor  of  the  Koman  Catholic  Church  has 
occurred  in  Spain.  The  temporal  power  is 
pledged  to  the  maintenance  of  the  Catholic 
Apostolic  Koman  religion,  but  a  protection 
is  guaranteed  to  all  Spanish  subjects  against 
ill  usage  from  the  Catholic  Church  or  from 
any  other  interfering  power.  The  full  force 
of  the  last  clause  of  the  article  has  elicited 
discussion  from  statesmen  and  lawyers.  It 
is  ambiguous,  evasive,  susceptible  of  an  op- 
pressive interpretation,  and  in  terms  restricts 
the  liberty  of  all  dissenting  worship  to  pri- 
vate houses.  A  recent  instance  of  "sharp 
practice  "  and  of  violation  of  parental  rights 
inVigo,  shows  that  there  is  need  of  a  clearer 


in  Spain  and  of  the  Republic,  91 

definition  and  of  a  better  guarantee/'^  The 
article  is  far  from  being  en  rapport  with  New 
Testament  or  American  ideas  of  liberty  of 
worship,  but  it  has,  under  progressive  states- 
manship and  the  enlightenment  of  the  nine- 
teenth century,  been  so  construed  as  to  allow 
a  greatly  improved  measure  of  religious  free- 
dom. At  the  funeral  services  of  the  Em- 
peror William  and  the  Emperor  Frederick  in 
the  Lutheran  chapel  at  Madrid,  the  diplo- 
matic corps,  the  Ministry,  military  and  civil 

*  The  Temps  of  February,  1888,  reproduced  in  the  London 
Times^  gives  the  case  of  a  young  lady,  in  possession  of  a 
small  fortune,  who  entered  a  convent  in  defiance  of  the  wish- 
es of  her  father,  who  alleged  that  his  daughter  was  a  mi- 
nor, and  in  very  bad  health.  The  severities  of  the  novitiate 
and  religious  excitement  increased  her  illness.  Medical  men 
advised  her  immediate  withdrawal  from  the  convent.  The  su- 
perior refused  her  consent,  and  the  bishop  declined  to  inter- 
fere. An  order  compulsory  was  obtained ;  but  on  the  morn- 
ing of  the  day  of  the  removal  the  girl  was  induced  to  take 
perpetual  vows.  This  put  an  end  to  civil  interference,  doors 
were  shut  against  the  father,  and  eight  days  after  the  girl 
died.  All  the  property  at  her  disposal,  70,000  francs,  was 
bequeathed  to  the  convent. 

The  Spanish  Church  Aid  Society,  in  its  last  annual  report, 
1888,  mentions  the  arrest  and  condemnation  to  two  years  and 
four  months'  imprisonment  of  one  of  their  pastors,  Senor 
Vila,  for  publishing  a  reply  to  an  attack  of  a  priest  on  the 
Protestants. 


92    A  Sketch  of  Constitutional  Government 

dignitaries,  and  Infante  Don  Antonio,  were 
present  in  showy  uniforms.  Public  opinion 
is  often  in  advance  of,  and  better  and  strong- 
er than,  law.  "  No  system,  however  elabo- 
rate, and  no  contrivance,  however  ingenious, 
can  be  finally  effective  for  the  preservation  of 
personal  liberty,  without  the  constant  assist- 
ance of  an  enlightened,  healthy,  and  vigorous 
public  sentiment."  An  estabhshed  Church, 
ex  m  termmi^  implies  unjust  discrimination 
against  other  churches,  governmental  favor- 
itism, inequality,  usurpation,  wrong.  To  es- 
tablish one  sect  or  denomination  or  Church 
puts  the  stamp  of  disfavor,  of  inferiority,  on 
those  not  established.  If  no  evils  accrued,  if 
no  injustice  were  done,  still  the  alliance  of 
Church  and  State,  the  civil  support  of  a  re- 
ligion, transgresses  the  legitimate  province 
and  function  of  the  civil  power.  There  is 
only  one  safe  rule  for  the  people,  for  the 
weak,  for  minorities,  against  civil  or  ecclesi- 
astical tyranny.  If  there  be  no  purpose  to 
injure,  let  it  be  put  beyond  the  power  to 
do  so.  The  history  of  States  and  Churches 
leaves  no  room  for  doubt  as  to  what  will 
come  of  the  power  to  suppress  dissent  when 
passion  or  prejudice  or  interest  dictates  the 


in  Spain  and  of  the  Republic,  93 

use  of  force.  When  a  religion  or  a  church 
is  once  "  estabUshed,"  or  adopted  by  a  State, 
intolerance  and  a  long  train  of  evils  are 
inevitable.  There  is  no  instance  to  the 
contrary.  History  teaches  but  one  lesson. 
Bepugnance  of  persecution  to  the  spirit  of 
Christ,  to  the  teachings  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment, has  never  been  a  hinderance ;  and  uni- 
formity has  been  invariably  sought  by  using 
without  scruple  the  means  seemingly  most 
effective.  Clearest  intellects,  kindliest  tem- 
pers, and  piety  have  favored  crudest  tort- 
ures. When  the  belief  that  persecution  for 
conscience'  sake  is  sinful  is  denounced  as 
heresy,  to  be  visited  with  the  full  penal- 
ties of  that  unpardonable  crime,^  then  there 
is  no  limit  to  ecclesiastical  jugglery  and 
wrong ;  as  Henry  George  says, "  Aggression 
grows  by  what  it  feeds  on,  and  the  idea  of 
justice  is  blurred  by  the  habitual  toleration 
of  injustice." 

In  its  general  provisions  the  Constitution 
corresponds  in  theory  to  the  constitutions  of 
other  monarchical  countries.     It  is  a  com- 


*  Lea's  "  History  of  the  Inquisition  of  the  Middle  Ages," 
vol.  i.,  p.  224. 


94    A  Sketch  of  Constitutional  Government 

promise  seeking  ^  juste  milieu  between  reac- 
tionary, intolerant,  ultramontane  Monarch- 
ists, the  absolutism  of  Bourbonism,  on  the 
one  hand,  and  radical  democracy,  on  the 
other.  There  is  sufficient  flexibility  of  lan- 
guage, under  Spanish  precedents,  to  "  allow 
ample  room  for  the  healthful  play  of  par- 
ties;" and  during  the  twelve  years  of  its 
existence  Spain  has  had  the  Conservatism  of 
Canovas,  and  the  Liberalism  of  Sagasta  and 
Moret,  has  survived  several  military  revolts, 
almost  annihilated  Carlism,  and  passed  se- 
curely over  the  crisis  of  a  transition  from  a 
Bourbon  king  to  the  regency  of  an  Austrian 
woman. 

In  the  frequent  changing  constitutions 
there  seems  to  be  no  comprehension  of  the 
fundamental  distinction  between  the  consti- 
tution-making and  the  law-making  poAver. 
It  is  doubtful  whether  the  ordinary  Spanish 
statesman  could  understand  the  checks  and 
balances  and  limitations  which  are  discussed 
with  such  consummate  ability  by  Calhoun 
in  his  "  Disquisition  on  Government  and  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States."  In 
Spain,  a  royal  decree,  a  legislative  act,  sus- 
pends  or   abrogates  the  Constitution,  and 


in  Spain  and  of  the  Bepuhlic,  95 

there  is  no  remedy  except  by  an  uncertain 
election  or  a  military  emeute.  A  court  of 
last  resort,  with  original  or  appellate  juris- 
diction, to  afford  adequate  relief  when  limits 
of  constitutional  grant  have  been  exceeded 
by  Sovereign  or  Cabinet  or  Cortes,  is  a  need 
yet  to  be  supplied  in  Spanish  jurisprudence. 


96     A  Sketch  of  Constitutional  Government 


CHAPTER  X. 

Cabinet  Government. 

The  Constitution  of  1812  made  the  initi- 
ative in  the  formation  of  a  parliamentary 
government,  by  dividing  the  functions  of  the 
executive  power  into  seven  responsible  Min- 
istries. Each  of  these  was  made  responsible 
to  the  Cortes  for  the  decrees  countersigned, 
and  was  not  permitted  to  plead  a  command 
of  the  King  in  excuse  for  official  action.  De- 
cisions not  so  countersigned  were  null.  The 
highest  court  of  justice  was  invested  with 
jurisdiction  in  the  trial  of  Ministers  and  of 
high  functionaries.  This  Constitution  was 
abrogated  by  kingly  usurpation  and  foreign 
interference,  but  it  is  interesting  as  the  gen- 
esis of  an  effort  to  naturalize  in  Spain  the 
governmental  ideas  which  have  become  so 
valuable  in  Great  Britain.  By  successive 
trials  the  Government  has  become,  in  large 
degree,  a  government  of  the  Ministry  sus- 
tained by  the  Congress,  thus  in  theory  plac- 


in  Spain  and  of  the  Republic,  97 

ing  the  legislative  and  executive  power  ul- 
timately in  the  hands  of  a  majority  of  the 
voters.  The  Sovereign  is  the  fountain  of 
honor,  the  source  of  pardons,  but  has  no 
constitutional  power  in  making  or  annulling 
laws.  The  Queen -regent  presides  once  a 
week  in  the  Council  of  Ministers,  and  takes 
an  intelligent  interest  in  the  affairs  of  the 
kingdom,  but  acts  within  her  limited  sphere 
of  a  constitutional  sovereign,  and  carefully 
abstains  from  dictation  or  an  attempt  to 
control.  The  President  of  the  Council  of 
Ministers,  or  Prime-minister,  at  present  has 
no  portfolio  as  in  England,  but  is  the  rec- 
ognized head  of  the  Government  and  has  a 
general  supervision  over  all  affairs  of  the 
nation.  Being  invited  so  to  do  by  the  Sov- 
ereign, he  selects  his  colleagues  in  the  Cab- 
inet, who  are  officially  proclaimed  by  royal 
order.  Each  Minister  must  be  a  member  of 
the  Cortes  (he  is  not  so  ex  officio)^  but  is  not 
required  on  appointment  to  have  his  official 
life  renewed  or  confirmed  by  the  indorse- 
ment of  a  constituency.  In  both  Houses  a 
Minister  can  sit,  debate,  introduce  measures, 
but  can  vote  only  in  the  body  of  which  he 
is  a  member.  In  Senate  and  in  Congress 
7 


/T 


98    A  SJcetch  of  Constitutional  Government 

a  front  bench  to  the  right  of  the  President 
is  reserved  for  the  Ministers  of  the  Crown, 
and  each  Minister  is  expected  to  explain 
and  defend  the  measures  emanating  from, 
or  specially  connected  with,  his  department. 
Sometimes,  in  a  general  debate  or  a  particu- 
lar discussion,  the  Prime-minister  sums  up 
or  concludes.  The  Constitution  provides  for 
''interpellation" — a  method  somewhat  akin 
to  the  questions  propounded  in  the  House  of 
Commons.  Any  member  of  the  Cortes  can 
question  a  Minister,  demand  an  interpella- 
tion, or  propose  a  vote  of  censure  or  want 
of  confidence.  Such  a  vote,  however,  does 
not,  of  necessity,  result  in  a  change  of  Gov- 
ernment ;  it  has  no  legal  effect,  and  the  Min- 
istry, in  the  face  of  it,  may  continue  in  office. 
The  Crown,  under  the  Constitution,  may  ap- 
point and  dismiss  Ministers  and  dissolve  the 
Cortes.  The  two  Houses  are  inhibited  from 
deliberating  together.  The  Government  is 
required  to  present  every  year  to  the  Cortes, 
for  examination  and  discussion,  the  general 
budget  of  the  expenditures  of  the  State,  ac- 
companied by  the  plan  of  taxation  and  the 
proposed  means  of  meeting  the  expendi- 
tures; but  the  laws  on  taxes  and  public 


in  Spain  and  of  the  llepichlic.  99 

credit  must  be  presented  first  to  the  Con- 
gress of  Deputies.  As  parliamentary  pro- 
cedure attracts  so  much  attention,  it  may 
be  mentioned  as  of  curious  interest  that 
instead  of  committees  at  the  beginning  of 
every  session  of  the  Cortes,  each  body  is  di- 
vided by  lot  into  sections,  to  which  projects 
of  laws  are  referred.  After  discussion  and 
action,  the  sections  report  through  commis- 
sions. These  sections,  except  the  one  hav- 
ing charge  of  the  Budget,  are  recast  every 
month  or  two  by  a  new  allotment.  In  the 
regular  debate  the  speakers  are  listed,  ^ro 
and  con^  but  are  not  limited  as  to  time. 
There  is  no  hour  rule  nor  previous  question. 
Each  speaker  can  "  rectify,"  and  with  Span- 
ish loquaciousness  this  "  system  of  oratorical 
ramifications  "  makes  debate  tedious  and  an 
issue  remote. 


100   A  Sketch  of  Constitutional  Government 


CHAPTER  XI. 

Progress  of  Liberal  Institutions  in  Spain. — Platform  of  Lib- 
eral and  Conservative  Parties. 

The  American  idea  of  the  derivation  of  po- 
litical power  from  the  people  has  not  found 
lodgment,  as  an  actuality,  in  Spanish  poli- 
tics, literature,  or  thought.  The  Constitution 
contains  no  declaration  of  rights,  no  abstract 
enunciation  of  fundamental  truths  and  prin- 
ciples. What  was  once,  rather  sneeringly, 
ridiculed  as  Virginia  and  Carolina  "  abstrac- 
tions," theoretical  annunciations  of  essential 
truths,  inalienable  rights,  the  bases  of  sound 
government  and  individual  liberty,  is  ^vhat 
Spaniards  need  to  comprehend  and  accept. 
Carefully  defined  distributions  and  limita- 
tions of  power  have  not  been  thought  nec- 
essary to  prevent  encroachments.  There  is 
imperative  need  of  a  sounder  opinion  on  the 
proper  means  of  changing  the  Ministry  and 
the  Constitution.  All  parties  have  resorted 
to  conspiracies,  and  no  party  can  cast  the  first 


in  Spain  and  of  the  Republic,         101 

stone  in  condemnation  of  others.  Absolute 
monarchy,  constitutional  monarchy,  elective 
monarchy,  a  republic,  a  regency,  civil  dic- 
tatorship, miUtary  dictatorship,  have  come 
and  gone  with  suddenness  and  celerity.  Mil- 
itarism, usurpation,  flagrant  violations  of 
constitutions  and  laws,  oscillations  between 
despotism  and  anarchy,  have  marked  the  un- 
happy history  of  this  century,  and  the  people 
have  often  quietly  acquiesced  in  these  rapid- 
ly occurring  mutations  as  things  to  be  ex- 
pected in  the  course  of  human  events.  Power 
has  been  sought,  not  by  legal  methods  or 
through  constitutional  forms,  but  by  revolts, 
insurrections,  conspiracies.  The  bayonet  has 
superseded  the  ballot  -  box  or  a  vote  of  the 
Cortes.  The  army  has  been  a  political  en- 
gine. Mihtary  officers  have  been  intriguers. 
Castelar  once  said  that  in  the  crisis  of  every 
party  question  the  inquiry  is.  Which  controls 
the  cannons  f 

Still,  the  impartial  student  of  the  science 
of  politics  can  see  much  to  encourage.  A 
comparison  between  1808  and  1888  will  show 
gratifying  progress.  Liberty  is  of  slow 
growth.  For  centuries  the  political  systems 
of  Europe  have  been  founded  upon  partial 


102   A  Sketch  of  Constitutional  Government 

rights  and  privileges,  but  the  advance  is  easi- 
ly discovered.  The  manners,  the  ideas,  the 
passions  moulded  during  past  ages,  do  not 
readily  yield.  Austria,  the  most  feudal  State, 
has  been  forced  into  lines  of  constitutional 
government,  and  has  found  it  necessary  to 
modify  concordats  and  reconstruct  the  em- 
pire-kingdom in  harmony  with  modern  ideas. 
As  far  back  as  1861,  a  citizen  Ministry  came 
into  power,  of  which  only  three  bore  aristo- 
cratic names.  The  Tory  party  in  England 
has  become  conservative,  and  is  adopting 
many  liberal  views  and  measures.  The  full 
scope  of  the  process  of  transformation  cannot 
be  measured  ;  but  we  see  reform  in  suffrage 
and  representation,  an  advance  towards  local 
government  in  the  counties,  and,  contempo- 
raneously, a  hopeful  discussion  as  to  the  need 
of  a  change  in  the  constitution  of  the  House 
of  Lords.  A  remarkable  fact,  similar  to  the 
one  mentioned  in  Austria,  exists  in  Spain  in 
1888,  where  all  the  nine  Ministers,  the  Presi- 
dent of  the  Congress,  and  nearly  all  the  sub- 
secretaries  are  from  the  people.  Nearly  ev- 
ery man  of  eminence  in  the  dominant  party, 
and  very  many  in  the  Opposition,  owe  their 
elevation  and  influence,  not  to  royal  favor  or 


in  Spain  and  of  the  Republic.  103 

aristocratic  birth,  but  to  splendid  abilities  and 
the  "  openings "  which  have  come  from  the 
popular  ideas  incorporated  into  the  govern- 
ment— embodied  in  a  representative  consti- 
tution. 

Parties  are  exponents  of  tendencies  and 
principles  when  they  embody,  not  sectional 
hate  nor  dead  issues,  but  living  practical  ques- 
tions. In  governments  tolerating  freedom 
of  opinion  and  discussion  men  divide  them- 
selves into  conservative  and  liberal  organi- 
zations. It  is  difficult  to  make  inteUigible 
to  an  American  the  politics  and  parties  of  a 
monarchy,  and  yet  without  an  insight  into 
them  one  is  very  liable  to  misapprehend. 
The  Conservative  party  in  Spain  is  too  con- 
tent with  the  present,  too  indisposed  to  look 
far  enough  forward,  too  much  wedded  to 
tradition  and  prescription,  and  with  too  su- 
perstitious a  devotion  to  monarchy ;  for  its 
great  leader,  Canovas,  in  February,  1888,  said 
in  the  Congress,  "  Monarchy  is  anterior  and 
superior  to  the  Constitution."  This  is  peril- 
ously close  to  the  old  doctrine  of  the  divine 
right  of  kings,  that  royalty  never  loses  its 
right  to  reign. 

As  to  the  Liberal  party,  I  have  been  fort- 


104   A  Sketch  of  Co7istitutional  Government 

unate  in  securing  from  Sefior  Sagasta,  the 
Prime-minister,  a  paper  which  has  the  double 
merit  of  being  an  ex  cathedra  declaration  of 
Liberalism,  and  less  authoritatively  a  state- 
ment of  Conservatism : 

"The  separation  and  difference  between 
the  Conservative  and  the  Liberal  parties 
takes  root  in  the  Revolution  of  1868.  Be- 
fore that  date  the  lines  of  separation  of  the 
political  parties  were  founded  neither  in  prin- 
ciples nor  doctrines,  public  men  occupying 
themselves  with  preparing  for  the  downfall 
of  Isabel  II.,  which  they  considered  indis- 
pensable to  the  establishment  of  a  liberal  and 
parliamentary  regime  in  Spain.  After  the 
triumph  of  the  Revolution  of  1868  and  the 
proclamation  of  the  constitutional  monarchy 
in  1869,  the  politics  of  the  parties  were  found- 
ed on  democratic  principles,  which  are  gen- 
erally called  individual  rights.  Since  that 
date,  the  parties  recognizing  the  constitu- 
tional monarchy  have  been  formulated  and 
defined,  so  that  to-day  they  are  not  only  per- 
fectly distinguished,  but  each  has  a  clear  and 
definite  programme.  We  may,  therefore, 
classify  the  Conservative  and  Liberal  parties 


in  Spain  and  of  the  Bepuhlic,  105 

as  the  two  grand  nuclei  of  political  forces, 
around  which,  as  occurs  in  England,  the  dif- 
ferent tendencies  of  Spanish  politics  are 
grouped.  In  this  w^ay  the  Conservative  par- 
ty has  already  absorbed  a  great  part  of  the 
Eeactionaries.  Those  have  entered  into  it 
who  give  more  importance  to  religious  peace 
than  to  the  form  of  government;  that  is, 
those  w^ho  are  called  Ultramontanes  and 
have  separated  from  the  Carlists.  Equally 
figures  within  the  Conservative  party,  or  at 
its  side,  the  remnant  of  the  old  Moderate 
party,  which  was  overcome  in  1868.  On  the 
other  hand  are  collected  in  the  Liberal  party 
those  Eepublicans  who  give  preference  to 
principles  over  forms  of  government,  and 
who  strive  to  give  efficiency  to  those  princi- 
ples by  co-operation  with  the  Liberal  party. 
In  the  same  attitude  are  found  those  other 
liberal  elements  the  advocates  of  which, 
without  being  defined  by  a  political  organi- 
zation, yet  rely  upon  legal  means  for  the  tri- 
umph of  their  ideas  and  opinions.  Among 
these  may  be  included  the  Free-traders,  a 
large  part  of  those  called  Socialists,  and  es- 
pecially the  Labor  party. 

"At  the  extremes  of  both  the  great  par- 


106  ^  Sketch  of  Constitutional  Government 

ties  are  two  groups  of  real  importance  in  the 
country  who  accept  neither  reforms  nor  le- 
gal methods  of  procedure,  and  whose  reli- 
ance is  upon  force  to  accomplish  the  triumph 
of  their  ideals.  These  are  the  Carlists  on 
the  extreme  right,  and  the  Eed  Eepublicans 
on  the  extreme  left. 

"Conservatives  and  Liberals  sustain  the 
constitutional  monarchy  with  equal  energy, 
there  being  on  this  point  no  essential  differ- 
ence between  the  Constitutions  of  1869  and 
1876.  Both  likewise  defend  the  rights  and 
guarantees  of  individual  liberty,  of  property, 
of  free  speech,  of  liberty  of  the  press,  and  of 
establishing  associations.  These  rights  are 
confirmed  in  all  the  constitutions,  and  it  is 
in  the  methods  of  guarantees  that  the  differ- 
ence between  the  parties  begins.  It  is  the 
aspiration  of  the  Liberal  party  to  commit 
the  complete  guarantee  of  liberty  and  of  the 
electoral  system  to  the  courts  of  justice,  while 
the  Conservative  party  is  inclined  to  exercise 
a  guardianship  over  all  these  rights  by  means 
of  administrative  authorities  and  of  ministe- 
rial power.  It  is  in  this  diverse  tendency 
that  the  distinction  between  the  two  parties 
originates  and  the  difference  of  progmmme 


in  Spaiii  and  of  the  EepiihUc.  107 

is  born.  In  its  platform  the  Liberal  party 
affirms  the  development  and  accomplishment 
not  only  of  what  are  termed  public  liberties, 
which  are  conceded  by  all,  but  the  evolution 
of  democratic  principles  as  proclaimed  by  the 
Revolution  of  1868.  Hence  a  series  of  legis- 
lative measures  which  have  been  proposed, 
and  may  be  enumerated  as  follows : 

"1.  Law  establishing  civil  marriage,  the 
character  of  which  is  defined  not  only  by 
the  intervention  of  the  State  at  the  moment 
marriage  is  contracted,  but  by  the  absolute 
right  of  the  State  to  regulate  all  its  civil  ef- 
fects in  regard  both  to  the  property  and 
rights  of  the  married  couple  and  their  chil- 
dren. 

''  2.  Law  of  associations,  so  as  to  shelter 
this  right  from  administrative  authorities 
and  place  it  under  the  protection  of  courts. 
The  law  of  public  meetings  has  been  al- 
ready made  and  has  universal  acceptance. 

"  3.  Law  establishing  the  jury  system. 

"  4.  Eeform  of  the  penal  code,  in  order  to 
place  individual  rights  under  the  safeguard 
of  the  laws,  and  to  regulate  the  liberty  of 
the  press  by  the  combined  action  of  the  jury 
and  the  courts  of  justice. 


108  A  Sketch  of  Constitutional  Government 

"  5.  Law  to  make  the  guarantee  against  the 
abuses  of  administrative  power  effective  by 
suppressing  the  necessity  of  previous  author- 
ization in  order  to  proceed  against  public  of- 
ficials, and  by  giving  every  one  the  means 
of  defence  against  the  excesses  of  bureau- 
cracy. 

"  6.  Law  enlarging  the  right  of  suffrage  to 
the  extreme  limit  allowed  by  the  present 
condition  of  the  culture  and  enlightenment 
of  the  Spanish  people. 

^'This  series  of  measures  constitutes  the 
programme  of  the  Liberal  party,  and  is  now 
undergoing  development.  To  this  policy  thus 
defined  there  naturally  corresponds  another 
series  of  measures  of  a  social  and  administra- 
tive character,  intended  to  give  to  free  ini- 
tiative and  to  individual  liberty  all  necessa- 
ry expansion  as  a  consequence  of  the  political 
programme,  by  intrusting  the  commercial  life 
of  the  country  to  the  free  action  of  the  pro- 
ducing classes  when  suitabl}^  organized. 

"  The  Liberal  party  gives  effect  to  its  prin- 
ciples and  purposes  by  a  series  of  legislative 
and  administrative  regulations,  which  have 
for  their  object — 

"  1.  The  creation  of  lines  of  navigation. 


in  Spain  and  of  the  JRepuhlic.  109 

"  2.  The  organization  of  chambers  of  com- 
merce at  home  and  abroad. 

"  3.  The  creation  of  committees  of  laborers 
and  of  commissions  of  arbitration  between 
capital  and  labor  or  emplo3^ers  and  employes. 

"  4.  The  regulation  of  the  labor  of  women 
and  children. 

*'  5.  The  creation  of  a  farmers'  bank. 

"  6.  The  completion  of  disamortization,  by 
taking  real  property  out  of  mortmain  and 
subjecting  it  to  the  rules  of  private  property. 

"7.  Eevision  of  laws  and  tariffs  of  rail- 
ways in  the  interests  of  trade. 

"  8.  The  completion  of  a  system  of  commu- 
nication by  ordinary  roads  and  railways,  es- 
pecially narrow-gauge,  and  by  combining  the 
principal  routes  with  the  harbors  and  fron- 
tiers. 

"9.  The  estabhshment  of  various  manu- 
facturing industries. 

"  The  Conservative  party  has  in  reality  no 
programme  confronting  that  of  the  Liberal. 
Its  attitude  is  expectant  and,  so  to  speak, 
negative.  It  does  not  recognize  the  urgen- 
cy of  any  great  reforms  or  great  legislative 
measures,  except  as  concern  the  finances,  and 
the  organization   of  the   military  forces — • 


110   A  Sketch  of  Constitutional  Government 

questions  which  belong  to  no  party,  and  the 
solution  of  which  appertains  specially  to  no 
one  political  group.  Given  this  attitude,  the 
Conservative  party  is  reduced  to  opposing 
the  reforms  of  the  Liberal  party,  but  at  the 
same  time  it  declares  itself  disposed  to  ac- 
cept them  if  practice  demonstrates  their  ad- 
vantage, and  in  any  way  to  respect  legal  so- 
lution to  which  co-operation  is  given  by  an 
intelligent  and  active  discussion.  There  is 
therefore  no  other  difference  than  that  of 
grade  and  conduct.  Essential  differences  and 
opposing  plans  do  not  exist,  except  that  in 
the  application  and  the  development  of  each 
of  the  questions  indicated  an  opposition  be- 
tween the  two  parties  may  be  formed  at  any 
moment.  What  remains  to  be  stated  will 
make  clear  this  point. 

"  Although  the  two  great  lines  of  action 
which  constitute  the  policy  and  purpose  of 
the  Liberal  party  have  been  traced,  yet  for 
a  fuller  understanding  it  is  necessary  to  call 
attention  to  two  points  of  view  which,  al- 
though not  formulated,  define  and  charac- 
terize its  tendency,  inasmuch  as  they  relate 
to  the  complete  and  historical  policy  of 
Spain. 


in  Spain  mid  of  the  JRepublic,  111 

"  One  of  these  refers  to  the  connection  be- 
tween Church  and  State,  the  basis  for  many 
years  of  struggles  and  revolutionary  move- 
ments. The  Liberal  party,  which  has  effect- 
ed disamortization  and  the  suppression  of 
tithes,  has  lately  succeeded  in  marching  in 
perfect  agreement  with  the  Holy  See  and  in 
restoring  an  understanding,  for  a  long  time 
disturbed,  between  the  State  and  the  Church. 
Any  idea  of  the  separation  of  the  two  pow- 
ers is  foreign  to  the  policy  of  the  Liberals. 
On  the  contrary,  in  the  harmony  of  the  two 
powers,  the  party  seeks  the  complete  re-es- 
tablishment of  peace  in  Spain,  and  a  change 
in  the  opinions  and  conduct  of  the  clergy, 
who,  after  having  been  ultramontane,  now 
begin,  under  the  intelligent  action  of  Leo 
XIIL,  to  separate  themselves  completely 
from  politics,  and  to  devote  themselves  to 
their  purely  spiritual  mission.  This  trans- 
formation of  the  clergy  is  too  beneficial  for 
the  Liberal  party  to  ignore,  or  to  allow  it 
to  excite  any  difficulty  which  might  repro- 
duce the  worst  periods  of  modern  Spanish 
history.^ 

*  The  Spanish,  English,  and  French  journals  of  September, 


112  A  Sketch  of  Constitiitio7ial  Government 

"  The  other  point  of  view  relates  to  inter- 
national policy.  The  Liberal  party,  instead 
of  being  indifferent  to  great  questions  agitat- 
ing the  civilized  world,  aspires  to  give  Spain 
a  place  among  the  nations  called  upon  and 
expected  to  exert  legitimate  influence  in  the 
adjustment  of  those  questions.  Her  geo- 
graphical position  guarantees  neutrality  in 
the  conflicts  which  may  arise,  but  likewise 
offers  to  her  the  means,  at  a  given  moment, 
of  influencing,  and  perhaps  of  deciding,  such 

1888,  state  that  the  Government  makes  serious  complaint  of 
the  Catholic  clergy  in  the  canvass  for  the  elections  of  pro- 
vincial councils.  The  priests  have  advised  the  people  to  vote 
for  Carlist  and  Ultramontane  candidates,  and  the  Madrid  and 
local  press  urge  the  Government  to  interfere.  A  telegram 
from  Madrid  to  the  London  News  of  September  10,  1888, 
says : 

"Madeid. — The  Liberals  won  large  majorities  in  the  provincial 
conncils,  which  were  re-elected  yesterday,  tliroughout  the  kingdom. 
Only  a  few  Conservatives,  and  fewer  Kepublicaus,  were  returned. 
The  severest  struggle  took  place  in  the  old  Carlist  districts,  where 
the  Liberals  were  carried  with  a  bare  majority  after  a  most  curious 
contest,  in  which  the  Carlists  fought  hard,  with  the  assistance  of  the 
priests,  who  even  on  the  day  of  the  poll  threatened  the  electors  with 
ecclesiastical  penalties.  The  Jesuits  and  the  monks  declared  from 
the  pulpits  and  in  the  streets  that  it  was  a  sin  against  religiouand 
the  Church  to  vote  for  the  Liberal  candidates.  Some  i)riests  even 
came  to  blows  with  the  Liberals.  The  conduct  of  the  clergy  in  these 
elections  is  a  sufficient  proof  that  the  old  spirit  of  intolerance  and 
the  Carlist  propensities  of  the  Basque  Highlanders  are  not  extin- 
guished." 


in  Spain  and  of  the  Eepuhlic.  113 

contests.  When  the  different  forces  of  Eu- 
rope are  nearly  equally  balanced,  as  they  are 
to-day,  Spain  can  throw  her  weight  into  the 
scale  for  the  maintenance  of  peace  and  the 
protection  of  the  interests  of  Humanity  and 
Civilization." 


114   A  Sketch  of  Coiistitutional  Government 


CHAPTER  XII. 

Polic}'  of  the  Republican  Party. 

This  lucid  statement  of  the  Prime-minis- 
ter, furnished  at  my  request,  can  hardly  be 
over-estimated  as  an  exposition  of  the  prin- 
ciples and  policy  of  the  dominant  party  and 
its  most  formidable  competitor.  The  unity 
or  design  of  this  work,  seeking  to  portray 
the  progress  of  the  principles  of  free  govern- 
ment in  the  Peninsula,  would  be  incomplete 
if  the  policy  and  measures  of  the  Eepubli- 
cans,  with  whom  I  must  confess  mj^  sympa- 
thy, were  not  brought  somewhat  into  con- 
trast with  what  has  just  been  given.  The 
writings  and  speeches  of  Eepublicans  have 
been  the  source  of  information  as  to  their 
platform.^  The  marked  distinction  as  to 
monarchy  is  omitted  because  of  the  obvious 

*  Large  indebtedness  is  due  to  my  friend,  Exc'mo  Seiior 
D.  Joaquin  Maria  Sanroma,  Counsellor  of  Public  Instruction, 
Professor  in  the  University,  former  Sub-Secretary  in  the  For- 
eign Office,  and  author  of  several  valuable  books. 


in  Spain  and  of  the  Republic,  115 

antagonism  in  form  and  essence  between 
a  monarchy  and  a  republic.  Some  unfort- 
unate disagreements  among  Kepublicans 
cause  a  segregation  into  at  least  three  fac- 
tions. Treating  Republicans  as  a  unit,  and 
passing  over,  except  incidentally,  their  want 
of  coincidence  of  opinion  on  some  measures 
of  administration,  the  separation  from  Liber- 
als, to  whom  they  are  most  closely  related, 
may  be  classified  under  several  heads. 

{a)  The  political  question.  Apart  from 
the  form  of  government,  there  are  such  sub- 
jects as  the  composition  of  the  Legislature, 
suffrage,  the  press,  and  the  right  of  meeting. 
Some  Republicans  do  not  concede  the  neces- 
sity of  two  branches  of  the  Legislature  (as 
some  do  not  in  England),  but  all  hold  that 
the  Senate,  if  it  exist,  should  not  be  hered- 
itary, nor  by  appointment  of  the  Crown,  nor 
based  on  wealth,  but  should  be  representa- 
tive of  provinces,  as  in  the  United  States,  or 
of  great  social  interests.  Republicans  de- 
mand the  immediate  establishment  of  uni- 
versal suffrage,  without  any  other  limitation 
than  sex,  age,  criminality,  etc. 

Public  opinion,  to  be  safe,  or  consistent 
Avith  a  proper  administration,  should  have 


116  A  Sketch  of  Constitutional  GovemmeJit 

some  regular  and  judicious  means  of  acting 
directly  and  peaceably  on  the  machine  of 
government  and  bearing  on  the  public  coun- 
sels. In  the  present  condition  of  society,  no 
government  can  be  prosperous  or  permanent 
which  does  not  provide  for  expressing  and 
giving  effect  to  the  general  sense  of  the 
people. 

The  Conservatives,  now  biding  their  time, 
and  giving  a  qicasi  or  negative  support  to 
the  Liberal  Government,  would  at  once  or- 
ganize all  their  forces  for  its  overthrow  if 
Sagasta  were  seriously  to  insist  upon  the  ex- 
tension of  the  franchise.  Martinez  Campos, 
late  Captain-general  of  Madrid,  mentioned  as 
leading  the  movement  to  bring  Alfonso  to 
the  throne,  is  a  bitter  opponent  of  democra- 
cy, and  has  frankly  told  Sagasta  that  he  will 
oppose  SLTij  measures  that  can  lead  to  univer- 
sal suffrage. 

In  Spain  the  Ministry  of  the  day  carries 
the  elections,  and  the  more  easily  as  it  deals 
with  restricted  suffrage.  The  franchise  is 
now  confined,  with  certain  exceptions,  to 
Spaniards  who  have  the  three  conditions  of 
age  (twenty-five  years),  of  domicile,  which 
involves  the  difficulty  of  getting  on  the  reg- 


in  Spain  and  of  the  Republic.  117 

ister,  and  of  a  minimum  contribution  of  twen- 
ty-five pesetas  ($5)  as  real  property  tax,  or 
double  that  amount  as  ^4ndustrial  tax." 
Eepublicans  seek  to  get  rid  of  this  last  lim- 
itation, and  hence  demand  a  return  to  the 
Constitution  of  1869.  The  exceptions  have 
an  aristocratic  or  class  tinge.  Suffrage  is 
given  to  all  members  of  academies  and  eccle- 
siastical chapters,  to  all  parish  priests  and 
their  curates,  to  all  civil  servants  whose  pay 
is  over  four  hundred  dollars  a  year,  to  all 
pensioners  (and  their  name  is  legion),  and  to 
all  painters  or  sculptors  who  have  obtained 
a  first  or  second  class  medal.  Politicians  are 
expert  in  the  care  of  the  registers,  and  the 
object  is  not  to  increase  the  list,  but  to  keep 
out  as  many  voters  as  possible.  Madrid  has 
400,000  inhabitants  or  more.  Under  the  old 
Constitution  the  voters  should  number  70,000 
or  80,000.  The  actual  register  is  about  12,000, 
a  large  number  of  whom  are  public  function- 
aries or  on  the  civil  list.  In  the  towns  and 
rural  districts  the  elections  are  a  farce,  and 
hence  the  desire  of  the  Eepublicans  for  a 
change  of  the  law.  Monarchists  impose  re- 
strictions on  liberty  of  the  press  so  as  to 
exempt  the  royal  family  from  criticism  or 


118-4  Sketch  of  Constitutional  Gover^iment 

censure.  Eepublicans  are  content  with  the 
restrictions  of  the  penal  code,  and  regard  the 
freedom  of  the  press  as  essential  to  liberty, 
but  subject  always  to  considerations  of  pub- 
lic tranquillity  and  order. 

Q))  Administrative  reforms,  such  as  Com- 
munes or  Districts,  Army,  Finance,  etc. 
Monarchists  favor  very  little  the  policy  of 
decentralization,  and  aim  at  the  concentra- 
tion of  power  under  the  aegis  of  supreme 
central  authorities.  Eepublicans  would  dis- 
courage the  centrifugal  tendencies  by  estab- 
lishing local  liberties,  leaving  to  free  popular 
election  all  local  officers,  and  giving  to  them 
the  decision  of  all  affairs  pertaining  exclu- 
sively to  the  district.  They  favor  popular 
government  in  local  matters,  would  give  to 
the  people  a  direct  interest  in  politics  and  in 
administration,  and  seelc  something  like  our 
municipal  or  township  governments,  where 
local  patriotism  would  be  enkindled,  the  dis- 
cipline of  self-government  acquired,  and  the 
people  would  be  knit  together  in  daily  rela- 
tions, not  as  common  subjects  but  as  fellow- 
citizens,  and  would  find  themselves  to  be  to 
the  State  not  mere  ciphers  but  intelligent 
entities.     Spain  has  no  Irish  question.     Lo- 


in  Spain  and  of  the  Repuhlic,  119 

cal  agitations  and  demands  do  not  disturb 
national  repose.  Still,  the  experience  of 
modern  governments  and  the  philosophy  of 
civics  show  the  educatory,  training  value  of 
local  organizations.  There  is  manifest  need 
for  the  play  of  national  and  provincial  pa- 
triotism, for  distribution  of  political  authori- 
ty, for  habits  of  organization,  for  a  training 
which  informs  and  raises  men  in  intelligent, 
self -regulated,  legal  freedom.  As  to  the 
army,  the  difference  practically  seems  not  to 
be  great,  as  all  parties  apparently  favor,  or 
yield  to,  national  armament,  compulsory  serv- 
ice, preparedness  for  war,  and  are  dazzled 
by  military  glory.  All  Spaniards  sigh  for 
the  return  of  the  position  of  power  that  their 
country  had  under  Charles  and  Philip,  and 
would  have  it  to  play  some  other  part  than 
that  of  peninsular  neutrality  and  isolation  in 
the  great  European  questions  which  portend 
early  and  wide-reaching  results.  The  strain 
of  universal  military  service  under  Avhich 
the  Eastern  Continent  groans  may  be  favor- 
able to  dynasties  and  the  ambition  of  offi- 
cers, but  is  fatal  to  the  prosperity  and  liber- 
ties of  the  masses.  It  gives  the  privilege, 
little  enviable,  of  being  among  the  nations 


120  A  Sketch  of  Constitutional  Government 

most  heavily  indebted.  Pronunciamientos, 
an  untranslatable  word,  are  uniquely  Span- 
ish, and  are  fostered  by  the  deplorable  mili- 
tary organization.  The  army  has  about 
75,000  men  in  active  service,  with  more  gen- 
erals than  France  or  Germany.  The  last 
publication  gives  seven  effective  captains- 
general,  six  general  officers  about  the  per- 
son of  the  King,  seventy -six  lieutenants- 
general,  395  brigadiers,  2800  field-officers, 
and  about  17,500  officers  of  lower  grade. 
As  a  security  against  escape  from  military 
service,  every  Spaniard  is  required  to  pro- 
vide himself  with  a  cedilla^  an  official  cer- 
tification of  his  birth  and  residence,  and 
without  which  he  may  be  arrested  in  pass- 
ing out  of  the  country,  or  from  one  province 
to  another.  Financial  questions,  as  in  most 
countries,  are  controlled  by  the  selfish  and 
readily  combining  few,  and  the  burdens  in 
Spain,  as  elsewhere,  are  unequally  distrib- 
uted. On  industrial  questions  no  very  dis- 
tinct line  of  demarcation  between  parties 
can  be  drawn,  although  Spain  is  an  inviting 
field  for  the  political  economist,  offering  a 
wide  scope  for  errors  to  be  avoided  and  for  ex- 
perimental plans  of  reform  and  amelioration. 


171  Spam  and  of  the  Repuhlic.  121 

The  Conservatives,  as  a  rule,  are  united  in 
favor  of  traditional  restriction  on  trade, 
while  among  Liberals  and  Eepublicans  are 
to  be  found  partisans  of  free  exchange  and 
fierce  protectionists.  Ignorance  of  economic 
questions,  of  the  fundamental  ideas  of  pro- 
duction, distribution,  and  exchange,  is  wide- 
spread. 

{g)  a  clearer  divergence  exists  as  to  the 
magistrature  and  judicial  procedure.  Dur- 
ing the  session  of  the  Cortes,  1887-88,  oral 
procedure  and  jury  trial  have  been  discussed 
in  the  Senate  as  a  Government  measure  and 
passed,  but  it  has  been  antagonized  bj^  the 
Conservatives,  and  drags  its  slow  length 
along,  the  Government  fearing  the  issue.^' 
Eepublicans  advocate  jury  trials,  and  would 
not  make  the  selection  of  a  jury  to  rest  on  a 
feudatory  basis,  but  make  all  who  can  read 
and  write  eligible  to  the  service.  Nor  would 
they  exclude  political  trials  from  the  jury. 


*  In  January,  1888,  at  a  dinner  given  by  the  Papal  Nuncio, 
speaking  to  the  Minister  of  Justice  of  a  naturalized  American 
citizen  imprisoned  and  not  furnished  with  specific  charges,  I 
suggested  the  need  of  tlie  right  of  habeas  corpus  as  obtains 
in  England  and  the  United  States,  and  he  replied,  "Spain 
moves  calmlv." 


122  A  Sketch  of  Constitutional  Government 

regarding  such  cases  as  appropriately  cog- 
nizable by  such  tribunals. 

{d)  On  the  colonial  question  the  difference 
is  very  wide,  and  properly  so ;  for  the  colo- 
nial system  is  wasteful,  corrupt,  and  irre- 
sponsible."^^ Deputies  said  in  the  Cortes  in 
1872,  "  Cuba  is  sunk  under  an  inundation  of 
abuses,  and  a  plus  ultra  is  impossible  unless 
indeed  the  extermination  of  the  whole  island- 
ers be  decreed ;"  "  Cuba  is  groaning  under 
the  scourge  of  arbitrary  power ;  there  is  no 
law,  no  code,  no  constitution  ;"  "  Send  back 
the  twelve  thousand  vultures  who  are  de- 
vouring Cuba."  Of  Porto  Eico  Froude  says, 
"  The  island  is  a  nest  of  squalor,  misery,  vice, 
and  disease ;"  and  of  Cuba,  "the  Government 
is  unimaginably  corrupt,  and  the  fiscal  policy 
oppressive  and  ruinous."  There  have  been 
some  reforms  of  administration  in  the  re- 

*  Spain  holds  Cuba,  Porto  Rico,  the  Philippine,  Sooloo,  Ma- 
rianne,and  Caroline  islands,  Ceuta,  and  some  other  possessions 
in  Africa.  To  these  she  clings  with  tenacity,  and  the  more 
firmly  as  her  vast  territories  have  so  completely  slipped  from 
her  grasp.  Gibraltar  is  a  perpetual  sore  arid  insult,  and  in 
the  modern  scramble  over,  and  arbitrary  partition  of,  Africa, 
Spain  has  so  far  been  able  to  acquire  but  sterile  possessions 
or  doubtful  claims,  which  she  retains  only  by  tolerance  of  other 
powers. 


in  Spain  and  of  the  Eepuhlic.  123 

mote  dependencies  ;  but  what  Gladstone  said 
in  May,  1887,  of  England  and  Ireland  is, 
names  being  changed,  equally  descriptive  of 
Spain  and  Cuba.  "  Every  horror  and  every 
shame  that  could  disgrace  the  relations  be- 
tween a  strong  country. and  a  weak  one  is 
written  upon  almost  every  page  of  our  deal- 
ings with  Ireland."  The  Colonies  are  now 
largely  subordinate  to  military  authority. 
Senators  and  deputies  are  chosen  under  the 
eye  of  the  Government,  municipalities  are 
under  metropolitan  control,  and  everything 
is  regulated  by  the  central  power.  Eepubli- 
cans  are  autonomists,  and  would  concede 
home -rule  or  colonial  legislatures,  subject 
to  the  unquestionable  supremacy  of  the  Pen- 
insular Government.  They  would  have  an 
elective,  popular,  and  representative  authori- 
ty in  the  islands,  with  large  powers,  and  with 
control  over  things  that  affect  daily  life,  so 
as  to  bring  responsibility  and  a  training  in 
politics  to  the  door  of  the  dweller  in  the  cot- 
tage. What  Lord  Salisbury  lately  said  is 
equally  applicable  to  Spain  and  her  colonies, 
and  in  a  wider  sense  than  the  Prime-minister 
intended  :  "The  object  of  local  government 
is  to  place  in  the  hands  of  the  people  of  the 


124:  A  Sketch  of  Constitutional  Government 

locality  the  power  liitherto  exercised  by  de- 
partments ill  London — departments  .  .  .  too 
far  separated,  socially  and  locally,  from  those 
with  whom  they  have  to  deal  to  be  able  to 
determine  the  measures  which  will  be  most 
acceptable  and  useful  to  the  locality."  '^ 

{e)  On  the  religious  question,  as  might  be 
expected,  the  difference  is  radical.  Article 
XI.,  previously  quoted,  is  deceptive,  and,  sup- 
plemented by  the  penal  code,  is  a  snare  to 
enmesh  the  unwary.      A  Protestant  school 

*  Mr.  Waddington,  the  French  ambassador  in  London,  in 
the  Nineteenth  Century  for  June,  gives  an  instructive  article 
on  local  government  in  France.  By  the  organic  law  of  1871 
the  country  is  divided  into  departments,  each  department 
into  arrondissements,  and  each  arrondissement  into  cantons. 
The  canton,  an  aggregate  of  rural  communes^  or  parishes, 
is  the  electoral  unit  for  the  election  of  the  conseil  general^  a 
body  "  wliose  duties  are  largely  concerned  with  the  manage- 
ment and  maintenance  of  the  wonderful  net-work  of  roads 
whicli  is  spread  all  over  France,  and  to  which  each  canton 

sends  a-member  chosen  by  universal  suffrage The  electors 

know  perfectly  well  the  candidates  who  canvass  their  votes, 
and  therefore  only  choose  men  who  live  among  them,  and 
whom  they  can  trust ;  and  that  is  the  reason  why  the  conseih 
generaux^  as  a  whole,  are  more  conservative,  more  steady  than 
the  parliamentary  representatives  returned  by  the  same  elec- 
tors ;  consequently,  although  parliamentary  institutions  are 
often  violently  attacked  in  France,  no  one  ever  thinks  of  call- 
ing in  question  the  efficacy  of  the  conseih  g'eneranxy 


in  Spain  and  of  the  Bepublic,  125 

or  church,  or  a  Hebrew  synagogue,  may  be 
opened  by  a  Spaniard,  but  he  would  be  ha- 
ble  to  persecution  under  frivolous  pretexts. 
To  reply  by  lecture  or  in  print  to  a  personal 
attack  made  from  a  pulpit,  to  speak  disre- 
spectfully of  dogma  or  clergy,  to  put  up  a 
sign  on  the  street  or  ring  a  bell  advertising 
worship,  to  march  as  a  Sunday-school  pro- 
cession with  banners  or  music  through  a 
street,  would  make  the  persons  so  offending 
liable  to  the  penalties  of  the  law.  Clerical- 
ism is  a  potential  factor  in  Spain,  and  the 
liberty  of  worship,  in  the  rural  districts  and 
villages  remote  from  the  capital  and  large 
cities,  is  unquestionably  dependent  upon  the 
politics,  the  whims,  the  prejudices  of  the  mag- 
istrates, the  priests,  and  the  people.  Eepub- 
licans  favor  freedom  of  worship,  full  and 
adequate,  without  evasions,  without  discrim- 
inations, without  State  support  of  Church. 
Instead  of  a  timid,  half-furtive  inscription  of 
Catholic  marriage  in  the  civil  register,  they 
would  re-establish  civil  marriage  as  it  exist- 
ed during  the  revolutionary  period.  The 
Government  had  reformed  the  bigotry  and 
despotism  of  the  old  law,  and  allowed  vali- 
dated marriages  before  a  civil  magistrate ; 


126    A  Sketch  of  Constitutional  Government 

but  when  Alfonso  became  king  he  nullified 
them  by  a  royal  decree.  The  present  Liberal 
Government  has  made  a  scary  effort  to  get 
back  to  civil  marriage,  but  it  is  hampered  by 
a  concordat  with  the  Pope,  and  objection  is 
made  in  the  Vatican  to  a  measure  pending  in 
the  Cortes.  Nothing  could  better  illustrate 
the  mediaeval  bondage  of  Spain,  the  want 
of  real  national  independence,  the  evils  of 
Church  and  State  alliance.  This  assumption, 
if  recognized,  would  vest  the  hegemony  of 
Spain,  of  Europe,  of  all  civil  governments, 
in  the  Pope  or  Church  of  Eome.  As  to  the 
basal  question  of  the  relation  between  Spain 
and  the  Eoraan  Catholic  Church,  of  which 
the  concordat  is  the  last  expression,  the  Ee- 
publicans  would  make  a  more  liberal  con- 
cordat, or,  better  still,  would  place  the  Eoman 
Catholic  and  the  other  Churches  on  the  same 
footing,  and  proclaim  the  independence  of 
Church  and  State  with  sufficient  guarantees 
against  the  encroachments  of  the  so-called 
spiritual  power. 


in  Spam  and  of  the  BepuhUc,  127 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

Reforms  Needed. — Hope  for  the  Future. 

In  addition  to  reforms  contemplated  by- 
Liberals  and  Kepublicans  there  are  some 
others  which  demand  immediate  and  thor- 
ough adoption. 

{a)  The  rigid  prohibition  of  bull -fights. 
This  national  ^65^{^,  disgusting,  demoralizing, 
cruel,  brutal,  bloody,  is  probably  the  most 
distinctive  characteristic  of  Spain.  It  begins 
on  Easter  Sunday,  is  kept  up  on  Sabbaths 
and  whenever  a  special  religious  funcion  is 
to  be  performed,  is  strangely  popular,  and  a 
serious  effort  to  suppress,  by  Church  and 
Government  combined,  would  provoke  vio- 
lent and  revolutionary  opposition.  When 
Joseph  Bonaparte  arrived  in  Madrid,  the 
populace,  indifferent  as  to  rulers,  was  much 
absorbed  in  the  question  whether  he  would 
grant  or  suppress  the  bull-fight. 

(J)  The  abolition  of  lotteries.  Such  expe- 
dients are  thinly  disguised  gambling,  and  sap 


128   A  Sketch  of  Constitutional  Government 

the  foundations  of  good  morals.  To  their 
pernicious  influence  may  probably  be  traced 
the  fact  that  nearly  all  card-playing  by  men 
and  women  in  Spain  is  connected  with  wa- 
gers of  money.  Buying  lottery  tickets  is  al- 
most universal,  from  street  beggar  to  highest 
official.  The  feverish  excitement  engendered 
causes  work  to  be  neglected,  encourages  aim- 
less idleness,  and  deludes  people  with  the  ex- 
pectations of  fortunes  without  labor.  Spec- 
ulation is  encouraged,  honest  toil  is  dishon- 
ored, and  there  is  dependence  for  living  on 
chance  instead  of  on  industry  and  frugality. 
The  State  legalizes,  monopolizes,  manages, 
and  controls,  and  relies  upon  lotteries  as  a 
source  of  revenue  in  disregard  of  the  law  of 
economics.  The  budget  for  1887-88  estimates 
the  receipts  from  lotteries  at  $15,400,000. 
This  inclusion  of  receipts  is  a  delusive  attempt 
to  get  something  for  nothing.  The  Avealth 
of  a  State  is  productive  labor,  and  the  fewer 
the  number  of  unproductive  laborers,  and 
the  more  productive  the  industry,  the  greater 
will  be  the  wealth. 

A  fiscal  reform,  not  remotely  foreign  to 
the  abolition  of  lotteries,  would  be  to  reor- 
ganize the  loose  system  of  tax  collection  and 


in  Spain  and  of  the  JRepicblic,  129 

get  rid  of  the  chronic  deficits,  of  which  in 
the  last  three  years  there  have  been  108,  91, 
and  Y7  millions  of  pesetas  respectively.  A 
better  devised  and  regulated  system  of  taxa- 
tion, more  responsibility  in  better-paid  offi- 
cials, exposure  and  punishment  of  thinly 
disguised  and  flagrant  revenue  frauds,  Avith- 
drawing  salaries  and  pensions  from  useless 
officials,  economy  and  honesty  in  expendi- 
tures, would  soon  make  possible  a  more  fa- 
vorable balance-sheet.  Secretary  Manning 
said  a  treasury  surplus  was  a  standing  proof 
of  bad  finance.  Mr.  Gladstone  said  some  peo- 
ple appear  to  suppose  that  public  economy  is 
the  sole  principle  of  sound  finance.  It  is  a 
matter  of  first  importance,  but  not  the  only 
principle.  The  first  of  these  principles  is  that 
the  revenue  and  expenditure  should  balance 
together  year  by  year.  Each  successive  head 
of  the  Treasury  Department  resorts  to  all 
sorts  of  financial  makeshifts  and  juggleries 
to  "  square  the  circle,"  and  pay  debts  with 
new  promises,  or  get  revenue  where  the  ra- 
pacity and  follies  of  the  Government  prevent 
the  accumulation  and  use  of  capital.  When 
will  people  learn  the  lesson  that  bad  govern- 
ment, unjust  laws,  favoritism  to  particular 
9 


130-4  Sketch  of  Constitictional  Government 

interests,  pensioners  upon  labor,  repression 
of  trade,  are  hinderances  to  production  and 
wealth  ? 

{g)  a  thorough,  well-organized,  well-super- 
vised, well-sustained  system  of  public  schools, 
controlled  by  the  Government,  in  which  all 
children  between  eight  and  eighteen  should 
receive  gratuitous  instruction  from  compe- 
tent, well -trained,  and  well-paid  teachers. 
Diligent  efforts  to  obtain  late  and  accurate 
educational  statistics  have  proved  futile.  By 
the  census  of  1877,  of  the  population  above 
twelve  years  of  age  sixty  per  cent,  could  not 
read.  The  illiteracy  of  the  women  is  appall- 
ing, for  they  made  up  nearly  two-thirds  of 
this  dark  percentage. 

Spain  must  learn  lessons  from  her  former 
colonies,  where  "  vast  provinces,  which  had 
languished  for  centuries  under  the  leaden 
sway  of  a  stationary  system,"  have  been  re- 
vivified by  the  influences  of  an  active  civili- 
zation. Freedom  of  worship,  of  speech,  of 
the  press,  trial  by  jury,  representative  gov- 
ernment, "  association  in  equality,"  will  lift 
up  countries  and  peoples.  The  causes  pre- 
ventive of  greater  improvement  in  powers 
and  condition,  of  good  government,  are  mor- 


in  Spain  and  of  the  Republic,  131 

al  rather  than  political.  Well-defined  con- 
stitutional liberties  are  needed,  but  paper 
definitions  and  guarantees  are  inadequate  to 
create  a  higher  standard  of  political  morals, 
and  to  free  Spain  of  the  intolerable  burdens 
which  repress  the  energies  and  retard  the 
growth  of  a  people  who  have  made  sublime 
exhibitions,  against  fatal  odds,  to  assert  na- 
tional independence  and  personal  liberty. 
The  administration  is  fearfully  corrupt,  or, 
what  is  nearly  tantamount,  the  people  have 
lost  confidence  in  the  integrity  of  their  pub- 
lic men,  and  office  is  almost  universally  re- 
garded as  the  coveted  means  and  the  favor- 
ing opportunity  for  making  money.  Honest 
labor  for  support  is  discouraged  by  Govern- 
ment lotteries,  by  civil  allowances,  by  the 
general  desire  for  official  place  and  stipend. 
Spaniards  have  excessive  self-complacency 
and  self-sufficiency,  live  and  rejoice  in  an 
illusion  that  they  constitute  a  superior  race 
of  the  best  blood,  and  they  nourish  them- 
selves on  reminiscences  of  the  past,  on  the 
immortal  deeds  of  a  glorious  ancestry.  In- 
dividuality of  character  needs  developing, 
for  the  structure  of  society  and  habits  of 
government  are  peculiarly  unfitted  to  that 


132  A  Sketch  of  Constitutional  Goveriiinent 

attainment.  Women  need  to  be  educated 
and  lifted  out  of  Moorish  suspicions  and  sub- 
ordination. Division  of  society  into  arti- 
ficial classes  and  unmanly  subservience  to 
the  titled  need  to  be  reformed  in  law,  in 
manners,  and  in  habits  of  thought.  An  open 
Bible  is  the  grand  desideratum. 

With  all  the  undoubted  drawbacks  the 
drift  in  Spain  is  not  strong,  not  consistent,  but 
hopefully  towards  constitutional  principles, 
promoting  the  general  good  while  conserv- 
ing individual  rights.^  Under  the  tuition 
and  guidance  of  Liberals  and  Eepublicans 
the  advance  must  be  towards  democratic 
government,  towards  the  recognition  of  that 
*' perfect  liberty  which  is  bounded  only  by 
the  equal  liberty  of  every  other."  Free  gov- 
ernment is  not  Minerva-born,  not  the  im- 
provisation of  an  inspired  moment  or  man, 
not  usually  definitely  proje*cted,  but  is  a  slow 
and  gradual  development,  moulded  step  by 
step,  year  by  year,  out  of  occurring  exigen- 

*  In  1887  I  heard  Castelar  make  in  the  Cortes  a  signifi- 
cant and  triumphant  reference  to  tlie  fact  that  twenty  years 
before,  the  President  of  the  Congress,  the  Prime-minister,  and 
himself  were  under  sentence  of  death  for  their  Liberal  opin- 
ions. 


in  Spain  and  of  the  Republic,  133 

cies  and  increasing  popular  insight  and  cour- 
age. Great  crises,  in  which  men's  minds  are 
deeply  and  roughly  stirred,  are  often  helpful, 
for  they  jostle  men  from  their  stagnancy, 
produce  disdain  of  authority  and  boldness  of 
thinking,  and  awaken  inquiry  and  doubt  as 
to  things  and  opinions  long  uninquiringly 
accepted.  In  periods  of  agitation,  human 
society  and  human  intellect  make  great  ad- 
vances. Men  begin  to  speculate  and  reason, 
and  their  former  idols,  the  gods  of  their 
worship,  tumble,  like  Dagon,  to  the  ground. 
They  see  the  dark  contrast  between  conduct 
and  professions,  the  union  of  immorality 
and  hypocrisy  with  ostentatious  religion,  the 
falseness  of  the  "  divinity  that  doth  hedge  a 
king,"  and  at  once  they  demand  to  see  and 
examine  for  themselves  the  patents  of  nobil- 
ity, the  alleged  commissions  from  heaven  to 
rule  over  bodies,  minds,  and  consciences  of 
men.  The  multitude,  so  aroused,  cannot  help 
challenging  institutions  and  dogmas,  how- 
ever hoary  with  age  or  sanctioned  by  pre- 
scription, and  Thought  expresses  itself  in 
protest  and  in  overthrow  of  aristocracy, 
priestcraft,  and  monarchy.  Blind  reverence 
gives  way  to  honest  scepticism  and  wise 


134t  A  Sketch  of  Constitutional  Government,  etc, 

unbelief,  and  the  foundations  on  which  Pre- 
rogative rears  its  lordly  and  exclusive  pre- 
tensions are  undermined.  It  was  most  fort- 
unate that  behind  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States,  anterior  to  the  Federal  Union, 
as  generative,  formative,  and  "  a  school-mas- 
ter," lay  all  the  struggles  and  achievements 
of  our  English  ancestors,  our  colonial  histo- 
ry, the  teachings  of  liberty-loving  statesmen 
and  philosophers,  and,  above  all,  the  increas- 
ingly comprehended  doctrines  of  the  JSTew 
Testament. 


APPENDIX  A. 

Sketches  of  Fernando,  Leopold,  Duke  of  Montpensier,  and 
Amadeo. 

Th12  theory  of  hereditary  royalty,  exclusion 
of  the  wisdom  of  the  nation  in  the  selection  of 
the  Executive,  confinement  of  the  crown  to 
elect  families,  is  that  royal  persons  are  care- 
fully trained  for  sovereignty,  and  are  therefore 
better  prepared  for  solving  or  understanding 
great  political  problems.  As  helping  to  test 
the  theory  and  to  elucidate  the  historical  events 
which  have  been  given  as  links  in  the  chain  of 
the  progress  of  political  ideas,  brief  summaries 
are  presented  of  the  biographies  of  the  men 
who  were  most  prominent  in  connection  with 
the  vacant  throne. 

AuGusTO  Francisco  Antonio  Fernando, 
Duke  of  Saxe-Coburg-Gotha,  was  born  in  1816, 
and  in  1836  married  Dona  Maria  II.,  Queen  of 
Portugal,  by  whom  he  had  five  sons  and  two 
daughters.  On  the  birth  of  the  eldest  son,  the 
present  king  of  Portugal,  he  received  the  title 


136  Appendix  A. 

of  King  Consort,  and  several  times  during  his 
life  acted  as  regent  of  the  kingdom.  He  ac- 
quired general  esteem  by  the  liberality  of  his 
views,  a  remarkable  aptitude  for  government, 
and  his  successful  efforts  to  maintain  tranquil- 
lity in  the  kingdom.  In  1863  he  was  offered 
the  throne  of  Greece,  which  he  declined.  His 
refusal  to  accept  the  Spanish  crown  has  been 
mentioned.  As  justifying  these  declinations, 
and,  perhaps,  to  relieve  himself  of  further  im- 
portunities, he  made  public  the  morganatic 
marriage  which  he  had  contracted  with  an 
American  prima  donna,  whose  maiden  name 
was  Louise  Hentzler.  She  was  born  in  Bos- 
ton, and  was  the  daughter  of  a  respectable  citi- 
zen, a  German  tailor.  For  a  while  she  sang  in 
the  choir  of  King's  Chapel,  but  some  wealthy 
members  of  that  congregation  subscribed  mon- 
ey and  sent  her  to  Europe  to  acquire  a  more 
thorough  musical  education.  She  connected 
herself  with  an  opera  troupe,  and  Ferdinand, 
seeing  her,  was  fascinated,  and  they  were  mar- 
ried. Husband  and  wife  lived  happily  togeth- 
er. Through  her  efforts  and  taste,  with  his 
cheerful  co-operation,  a  palace  at  Cintra,  pur- 
chased for  $3000,  was  beautified  and  enriched, 
and  became  the  attractive  place  of  Portugal. 
She  has  had  much  trouble,  with  some  litiga- 


Appendix  A,  137 

tion,  because  of  the  hostility  of  the  Portuguese 
to  a  marriage  outside  of  royal  blood;  but  she 
is,  nevertheless,  a  woman  of  rare  accomplish- 
ments, and  has  deported  herself  in  a  most  ex- 
emplary manner.  Fernando  was  an  enlightened 
prince,  a  painter  and  engraver  of  considerable 
merit,  the  President  of  the  Royal  Academy  of 
Science  in  Lisbon,  and  died  near  the  end  of 
1885,  much  lamented. 

Leopold,  Prince  of  Hohenzollern,  brother  of 
the  King  of  Roumania,  was  born  September  22, 
1835,  and  on  September  12,  1861,  married  the 
Infanta  Antonia,  daughter  of  the  above-men- 
tioned Fernando,  king  of  Portugal.  Prim,  in 
his  conference  with  Merci^r,  the  French  ambas- 
sador, when  the  election  of  Leopold  as  king  of 
Spain  was  announced,  said,  "  He  is  a  Catholic, 
of  royal  lineage,  thirty-five  years  old,  of  good 
bearing,  has  two  sons,  and,  what  will  predispose 
much  in  his  favor,  is  married  to  a  Portuguese 
princess."  During  the  discussion  of  his  can- 
didature at  Berlin,  it  was  said  by  the  Liberals 
that  his  accession  was  doubtful,  but  if  he  shall 
become  king,  the  Spaniards  will  not  have  made 
a  bad  choice.  In  the  Franco-Prussian  war  he 
was  attached  to  the  staff  of  the  King;  now  he 
is  lieutenant-general  of  infantry  in  the  German 
army.     He  finds  less  charm  in  the  military  life 


138  Appe7idix  A. 

than  in  the  study  of  the  sciences.  In  1887,  the 
prince,  in  going  to  and  returning  from  Portu- 
gal, passed  through  Madrid  and  spent  several 
days  in  visiting  places  of  interest.  He  had  an 
audience  of  the  Queen,  and  their  emotions  as 
they  thought  of  what  might  have  been  were 
doubtless  very  peculiar.  The  prince  was  strict- 
ly mcog.,  and  his  coming  and  going  were  known 
only  to  a  very  few  persons.  To  a  member  of 
the  German  Legation  he  said  he  was  very  glad 
that  he  was  not  the  king  of  Spain. 

The  Duke  of  Montpensier,  youngest  son 
of  Louis  Philippe,  the  last  king  of  France,  was 
born  July  21,  1824.  When  Queen  Isabella  was 
married  at  the  palace,  October  10,  1846,  at  the 
same  time  and  place  occurred  the  marriage  of 
the  duke  to  the  sister  of  the  Queen,  Infanta 
Luisa.  It  has  been  often  charged  that  the  duke 
brought  about  the  marriage  of  the  Queen,  a 
frail,  unhealthy  girl,  to  an  imbecile  cousin,  in 
the  confident  expectation  of  her  early  and  child- 
less death,  and  of  the  consequent  succession  of 
his  wife  to  the  throne.  The  marriages  excited 
an  angry  diplomatic  controversy  ;  and  Great 
Britain,  through  Mr.  Bulwer,  her  Minister,  pro- 
tested against  the  projected  marriage  of  the  In- 
fanta to  the  duke  as  a  violation  of  the  Treaty 
of  Utrecht  (1713),  which  declared  as  a  principle 


OP    7Hi 

TNTVEHSITY 


Ap2:>endix  A. 

of  European  policy  that  the  kingdoms  of  France 
and  Spain  should  never  be  united  under  one 
sceptre,  and  as  seriously  affecting  the  future  re- 
lations between  Great  Britain  and  Spain.  Lord 
Palmerston  said  that  "  the  decision  of  the  king 
of  the  French  that  the  Duke  of  Montpensier 
should  7iot  be  a  candidate  for  the  hand  of  the 
Queen  of  Spain  .  .  .  was  the  result  of  the  sense 
which  the  King  spontaneously  entertained  of 
what  was  due  by  France  to  the  faith  of  the 
transactions  of  the  Treaty  of  Utrecht  and  to 
the  just  value  attached  by  other  States  to  the 
maintenance  of  the  balance  of  power  in  Eu- 
rope." 

Guizot  boasted  to  the  French  Chambers  that 
the  Spanish  marriages  constituted  the  first  great 
thing  France  had  accomplished  single-handed 
since  1830.  Palmerston,  annoyed  at  his  dis- 
comfiture, denounced  them  as  acts  of  bad  faith 
and  political  aggrandizement.  These  states- 
men, looking  after  the  interests  of  dynasties, 
did  not  foresee  that  very  early  the  people  of 
both  France  and  Spain  would  rise  to  the  asser- 
tion of  the  grand  idea  that  kings  existed  for 
the  sake  of  the  people,  to  whom  belonged  the 
rio:ht  to  manaci:e  their  own  affairs.  In  less  than 
two  years  the  House  of  Orleans  was  driven 
from  the  throne  of  France,  in  twelve  years  Isa- 


140  Appendix  A, 

bella  was  an  exile,  and  the  Duke  of  Montpen- 
sier's  chances  for  either  throne  were  reduced 
almost  to  nothing. 

A  late  English  review  {Fortnightly)  alleges 
that  it  was  through  pressure  brought  to  bear 
by  Montpensier  that  Louis  Philippe  abdicated 
the  throne  in  1848.  On  October  10,  1859,  the 
duke  was  made  and  declared  an  Infante  of 
Spain.  In  1870  he  was  active  in  his  candidat- 
ure for  the  crown,  expended  large  sums  of 
money,  and  employed  agents  to  advance  his 
ambitious  views.  It  was  to  defeat  him  that 
Prim  urged  the  election  of  Leopold. 

One  of  the  duke's  daughters  is  married  to 
the  Count  of  Paris,  the  claimant  of  the  throne 
of  France,  as  uniting  in  his  person  the  preten- 
sions of  both  branches  of  the  House  of  Bourbon, 
so  well  known  in  the  United  States  as  a  soldier 
and  author.  Another  daughter,  Mercedes,  was 
the  first  wife  of  Alfonso  XII.  A  granddaughter, 
Amelie,  daughter  of  Comte  de  Paris,  was  mar- 
ried in  1886  to  the  Duke  of  Braganza,  Crown 
Prince  of  Portugal;  and  one  of  the  current  and 
prejudicial  on  dits  in  Spain  is  that  the  duke 
prevented  a  union  between  the  Crown  Prince 
and  the  Infanta  Eulalia  in  order  to  secure  her 
hand  for  his  son,  the  Prince  Antoine.  By  virtue 
of  the  renunciation  at  the  Peace  of  Utrecht, 


Appendix  A,  141 

made  by  the  Duke  of  Orleans  of  that  day,  "  all 
his  descendants  are  excluded  and  incapacitated 
from  succeeding  to  the  throne  of  Spain,"  and 
therefore  the  descendants  of  the  Duke  of  Mont- 
pensier  would  be  excluded.  Such  have  been  the 
mutations  in  governments,  what  elicited  an  ear- 
nest remonstrance  in  1846  failed  to  awaken  even 
a  curious  comment  in  1886. 

The  duke  is  a  tall,  graceful,  fine-looking  gen- 
tleman, cordial  and  familiar  in  his  manners, 
pleasant  and  plausible  in  conversation,  and  im- 
pressive in  general  demeanor.  He  has  much 
personal  courage  and  determination,  has  killed 
one  man  in  a  duel,  as  related  in  Hay's  "  Castil- 
ian  Days,"  and  is  tinged,  probably  as  the  result 
of  his  checkered  and  agitated  life,  with  cyni- 
cism and  distrust  of  his  kind.  He  has  a  fine 
palace  in  Seville,  San  Elmo,  which  many  Amer- 
icans have  visited,  and  a  country  home  near 
San  Lucar.  He  has  an  unenviable  reputation 
for  intrigue,  and  in  1888  the  Government  made 
to  him  a  remonstrance  in  connection  with  the 
assemblage  of  some  supposed  French  conspira- 
tors at  his  house. 

Distrusting  the  account  of  his  conduct  and 
motives  given  in  Spanish  books,  I  addressed  a 
note  to  him  at  the  instance  of  the  Count  and 
Countess  of  Paris,  and  received  a  courteous  re- 


142  Appendix  A, 

ply,  which  it  is  but  just  to  the  duke  I  should 
publish. 

*'San  Lncar  de  Barraraeda, 
24  Avril^  '88. 

*'  Monsieur  le  Ministre, — J'ai  ete  extremement  touche  de 
I'aimable  pensee  que  vous  a  inspire  en  m'ecrivant  votre  lettre 
de  22  Avril  et  de  votre  desir  de  retablir  la  justice  et  la  ve- 
rite  en  ce  qui  me  concerne  dans  le  livre  que  vous  ecrivez  sur 
I'Espagne.  Mais  je  ne  puis  ecrire  le  recit  dont  vous  me  par- 
lez;  j'ai  ete  poursuivi  ^  propos  de  mon  mariage  en  1846  et 
des  Revolutions  qui  ont  en  lieu  en  Espagne  en  1856  et  1868 
et  annees  suivantes  par  des  calomnies  tellement  iniques  et 
tellement  infames  que  j'ai  pris  la  forme  resolution  de  ne  leur 
repondre  que  par  le  silence  du  mepris.  Les  faits  existent ; 
ma  conscience  est  tranquille ;  je  crois  n'avoir  obeii  dans  ma 
vie  agitee  qu'aux  lois  de  I'honneur  et  du  devoir. 

"  Je  ne  puis  rien  dire  de  plus  et  il  ne  me  reste  qu'^  vous 
remercier  de  tout  coeur  de  ce  que  vous  me  dites  a  ce  sujet  et 
de  vous  serrer  le  main  en  restant  toujours 

"  Yotre  tr^3  aflfectionne, 

"  Antoine  d' Orleans." 

Amadeo,  Duke  of  Aosta,  Prince  of  Savoy, 
son  of  Victor  Emmanuel,  King  of  Italy,  was  born 
May  30,  1845.  He  is  an  amiable,  gentlemanly 
person,  a  lover  of  sport,  a  good  horseman,  dis- 
inclined to  study,  indifferent  to  matters  of  gov- 
ernment, and  was  almost  coerced  by  his  father 
to  accept  the  crow^n.  Those  who  knew  him  in 
Italy  vaunted  without  stint  the  excellence  of 
his  family  relations  as  in  striking  contrast  wdth 


Appendix  A,  143 

those  of  the  Bourbons,  and  spoke  of  him  as  a 
good  father  and  a  loyal  husband.  He  was  not 
of  those  of  vigorous  determination  and  strong 
convictions  who  change  their  times,  and  he 
never  took  the  initiative  in  politics.  Of  all 
rules  he  preferred  that  of  the  bourgeois  king, 
and  was  often  alone  on  the  streets  with  stick  in 
hand  and  followed  by  his  dog.  On  the  day  of 
his  arrival  in  Madrid  he  went  alone  to  see  Prim, 
who  was  lingering  in  articulo  mortis  from  the 
assassins'  attack  of  a  few  days  previous.  ZorriUa 
speaks  of  him  affectionately  as  being  brave, 
modest,  generous,  accessible  to  everybody,  as 
polite  in  his  salutations  of  workmen  as  of  the 
aristocracy,  indifferent  to  pomp  and  official  cer- 
emony, and  having  all  the  elements  of  popular- 
ity. When  he  renounced  the  crown,  believing 
that  all  his  efforts  would  be  sterile,  he  retired 
with  the  Queen  and  infant  child  to  Portugal, 
where  his  sister  was  queen.  Returning  to  Italy 
and  surrendering  the  title  of  king,  the  Italian 
Parliament  voted  an  annual  allowance  of  400,- 
000  francs,  and  Victor  Emmanuel  named  him 
lieutenant-general  in  the  army,  a  position  which 
he  still  holds.  The  princess  whom  he  had  mar- 
ried in  1867  died  at  San  Remo  in  1876,  and  left 
three  sons.  After  a  widowhood  of  twelve  years 
he  married,  on  September  11th,  at  Turin,  with 


144  Appendix  A, 

magnificent  parade  and  ceremonial,  his  niece, 
the  Princess  Marie  Letitia  Bonaparte,  daughter 
of  his  eldest  sister.  Princess  Clotilde,  who  in 
1859  was  married  to  Prince  Jerome  Bonaparte. 
This  marriage  of  the  duke  makes  some  queer 
relationships.  The  princess  is  sister-in-law  to 
her  own  mother,  step-mother  to  one  set  of  cous- 
ins, and  aunt  to  the  remainder,  while  the  duke 
becomes  son-in-law  to  his  sister,  nephew  to  his 
brother,  and  brother-in-law  to  his  nephews. 
The  Bonaparte  family,  although  as  a  reigning 
dynasty  its  pretensions  are  ridiculous,  is  not  ex- 
cluded from  the  charmed  circle,  the  elect  few, 
which  European  royalty  reserves  for  its  mar- 
riages— and  the  duke  in  his  selection  has  not 
excluded  himself  from  the  register  of  "the 
blooded  and  the  legitimate."  A  dispensation 
for  a  marriage  within  the  prohibited  degrees, 
prohibited  by  human  and  divine  law,  the  Pope 
has  granted  with  his  blessing.  Such  privileges 
are  seldom  accorded  except  to  royalty. 

The  abdication  of  a  king,  young  and  not  per- 
sonally objectionable,  is  so  unusual  that  perhaps 
something  in  addition  to  what  has  been  stated 
may  be  of  interest  and  throw  light  on  the  ex- 
traordinary occurrence.  It  is  well  known  that 
Victor  Emmanuel  overcame  the  reluctance  of 
his  son  to  accept  the  Spanish  crown  ;  for,  hav- 


Appendix  A,  145 

ing  entered  upon  a  struggle  with  the  Pope,  he 
deemed  an  alliance  with  a  Latin  and  Catholic 
country  of  great  advantage  to  Italy. 

The  prejudice  against  and  opposition  to  Ama- 
deo  made  it  apparent  that  he  was  not  taking  a 
firm  hold  in  Spain,  and  that  his  reign  at  best 
was  precarious.  This  caused  among  the  various 
political  parties  conspiracies  against  the  mon- 
archy. A  combination  of  endangered  interests 
was  also  formed  to  effect  his  overthrow.  Among 
the  intrigues  which  disgusted  the  King  and  en- 
gendered the  thought  of  surrendering  the  crown 
was  a  scheme  for  the  independence  of  Cuba, 
which,  it  was  thought,  with  the  adverse  senti- 
ment existing  in  the  Peninsula,  could  not  be 
brought  about  except  amid  the  disorders  and 
convulsions  which  would  attend  an  abdication. 
The  demand  for  reforms  in  Porto  Rico,  includ- 
ing immediate  abolition  of  slavery,  which  were 
pressed  by  many  leading  men,  threw  the  Cor- 
tes into  a  fierce  excitement,  and  the  Reactiona- 
ries were  not  timid  in  hinting  at  the  accession 
of  the  young  Prince  Alfonso.  The  vast  inter- 
ests which  had  grown  into  being  and  had  prof- 
ited by  despotism  and  slavery  in  Cuba  and 
Porto  Rico  united  with  any  faction  to  post- 
pone emancipation.  When  the  Ministry  deter- 
mined to  make  colonial  reform  a  Government 
10 


146  Appendix  A. 

measure,  a  league  of  all  the  elements  of  opposi- 
tion, called  "A  League  to  defend  the  National 
Domain,"  was  formed.  As  the  reforms  included 
some  municipal  liberty  as  well  as  emancipation, 
it  was  alleged  that  the  concession  of  self-gov- 
ernment to  the  Colonies  would  involve  the  loss 
of  the  American  possessions.  The  cry  for  the 
integrity  of  the  kingdom  was  seductive,  and 
had  the  formidable  combination  of  newsj)apers, 
which,  well  supplied  with  money,  stimulated  the 
national  pride  and  evoked  the  national  hostility 
to  foreigners  by  charging  that  there  was  be- 
tween the  Cabinet  and  the  United  States  a  com- 
pact degrading  to  Spanish  honor  and  dangerous 
to  national  interests.  The  League  made  a  for- 
mal demand  upon  the  King  for  his  interposition. 
When  he  declined,  the  dynasty  became  the  ob- 
ject of  imbittered  attack.  Strenuous  efforts 
were  made  to  produce  insubordination  in  the 
army.  Hidalgo,  an  officer  of  the  artillery  corps, 
composed  mainly  of  aristocrats  and  Conserva- 
tives, had  taken  part  in  the  insurrection  of  1866, 
the  prelude  to  the  revolution  of  1868,  and  under 
the  revolutionary  government  had  been  made 
general.  Hidalgo,  being  assigned  to  the  com- 
mand of  a  province  in  the  north  (he  had  had 
previously  commands  in  Cuba  and  Catalonia), 
the  artillery  corps  would  not  consent  to  his  com- 


Appendix  A,  147 

mand  of  them,  and  asked  to  be  retired.  To  pun- 
ish this  indiscipline,  the  Government  accepted 
the  resignations,  resolved  to  suppress  the  corps, 
and  submitted  a  decree  to  the*  King  for  that  pur- 
pose. He  asked  time  for  reflection.  The  Min- 
istry feared  that  this  boded  a  refusal  and  their 
consequent  resignation,  and  they  determined  to 
secure  his  approval.  The  League  and  such  not- 
able men  as  Topete  and  Duke  De  la  Torre  be- 
sought the  King  to  undo  the  acts  of  his  Minis- 
ters, which  had  given  so  much  dissatisfaction 
to  the  army,  and  promised  the  loyal  troops  for 
his  defence  in  the  event  of  a  conflict,  which  no 
one  doubted  if  he  declined  to  sign.  As  the  King 
was  impressed  by  these  representations,  the  Min- 
isters adroitly  secured,  through  an  interpella- 
tion, the  submission  of  the  matter  to  Congress, 
and  obtained  approbation  of  their  proceedings. 
This  conduct  of  the  Ministry,  in  conspiring  to 
fetter  the  action  of  the  sovereign  and  make  him 
dependent  on  them,  is  said  to  be  in  antagonism 
to  the  theory  of  the  Government  and  traitorous 
to  the  King,  whose  ministers  they  were.*  How- 
ever that  may  be,  the  King,  wounded  in  his  dig- 
nity by  this  vote  of  confidence  in  his  Ministers, 
was  reduced  to  a  terrible  alternative.     To  sign, 

*  Lieber's  Life  and  Letters,  p.  lOT. 


148  Appendix  A, 

or  not  to  sign,  meant  a  bloody  struggle  ;  so  he 
summoned  the  Ministry  and  presented  his  abdi- 
cation. If  he  had  accepted  the  advice  of  either 
party  he  would  probably  have  shared  the  fate 
of  Louis  XVI.  of  France,  or  of  Maximilian  in 
Mexico.  Spain  should  ever  be  grateful  to  him 
for  saving  her  from  the  horrors  of  a  frightful 
civil  war.  In  the  letter  to  the  Chamber,  from 
which  an  extract  has  been  given,  he  deplored 
the  infatuation  of  Spaniards,  who  "  with  sword 
and  pen  and  speech  aggravated  and  perpetu- 
ated the  troubles  of  the  nation.  .  .  .  Amid  the 
confused,  appalling,  contradictory  clamor  of 
contestants,  amid  so  many  and  such  widely  op- 
posed manifestations  of  public  opinion,  it  is 
impossible  to  choose  the  right,  and  still  more 
impossible  to  find  a  remedy  for  such  vast  evils." 
This  explanation  of  the  cause  of  the  abdication 
would  be  incomplete  if  the  opinion  of  Manuel 
Ruiz  Zorrilla,  the  Prime-minister  at  the  time, 
were  not  given.  In  the  little  book,  "A  sus 
Amigos  y  a  sus  Adversarios,"  published  in  1877, 
a  copy  of  which  was  sent  me  by  the  author,  he 
said  that  he  did  not  know  and  never  expected 
to  know  why  the  King  renounced  the  throne. 
Certainly,  no  prince  ever  cared  less  for  the  gew- 
gaws and  attractions  of  royalty,  or  resigned  a 
diadem   more   cheerfully    and    philosophically. 


Appendix  A,  149 

When  lie  discovered  that  liis  reign  was  unsatis- 
factory, he  stepped  down  from  the  throne  with- 
out parade  and  with  calm  dignity.  Although 
fifteen  years  have  elapsed,  there  is  no  evidence 
that  he  has  ever  regretted  his  abdication,  nor 
has  one  word  of  asperity  or  bitterness  escaped 
his  lips,  notwithstanding  the  affronts  and  vexa- 
tions he  endured. 


APPENDIX  B. 

Sketches  of  Christina,  Isabel,  Alfonso  XII.,  the  Infantas,  the 
Queen  Regent,  and  Alfonso  XIII. 

Royal  Family  since  1833. — When  Ferdi- 
nand VII.  died  in  1833,  his  widow,  Christina,  a 
sister  of  a  king  of  Naples,  became  regent  and 
guardian  of  the  children,  having  been  so  con- 
stituted by  the  will  of  the  King.  In  1836,  as 
has  been  recited,  she  was  compelled,  at  La  Gran- 
ja,  by  the  soldiers  to  restore  the  Constitution  of 
1812,  which  had  been  violently  put  down,  four- 
teen years  before,  by  a  French  armed  interven- 
tion. Losing  all  influence  in  the  management 
of  public  affairs,  she  soon  resigned  the  regency 
and  gave  herself  up  to  unworthy  passions.  With 
her  paramour  she  contracted  an  illicit  marriage, 
which  by  papal  absolution  and  authorization  was 
afterwards  validated.  In  1841  she  made  a  pil- 
grimage to  Rome,  and  was  cleansed  of  her  sins 
and  readmitted  to  the  bosom  of  the  Church.  By 
her  bad  conduct  she  was  temporarily  estranged 
from  her  legitimate  offspring,  whom  she  cruelly 
neglected.  Her  avarice  was  remorseless.  She 
dissipated  the  Crown  property,  stripped  the  pal- 


Appendix  B,  151 

ace  of  valuables,  sent  them  away  or  converted 
them  into  money,  and  made  the  royal  residence 
a  house  of  penury.  Jewellery  and  plate  disap- 
peared, and  the  baptismal  robe  of  Isabella  11. 
was  offered  for  sale  to  the  American  Minister. 
Her  depraved  taste  substituted  vulgar  parvenus 
for  refined  society. 

In  consequence  of  the  disorganized  condition 
of  the  country,  the  Ayuntamiento  of  Madrid  as- 
sumed power  as  the  Supreme  Junta  of  the  king- 
dom, and  undertook  to  dictate  conditions  to  the 
Queen.  The  corporations  of  the  principal  cities 
followed  the  example  of  the  capital  and  threw 
off  allegiance  to  the  Queen's  Government,  which 
became  powerless.  Yielding  to  the  exactions 
of  the  Revolutionary  party,  Christina  invested 
General  Espartero,  President  of  the  Council,  with 
authority  to  form  a  Ministry.  Abandoning  the 
country,  she  went  to  France,  her  departure  caus- 
ing no  regret,  as  her  errors  and  weaknesses  had 
made  her  unpopular.  It  was  currently  reported 
at  the  time  of  her  retirement  from  the  Spanish 
throne  that  she  had  a  clear  fortune  of  from  six 
to  eight  millions  of  dollars. 

In  1844  she  was  again  at  the  palace,  exerting 
much  influence  over  her  daughter,  whom  she 
took  to  the  baths  for  her  health.  In  1845  she 
had  a  diplomatic  intrigue  at  Rome,  in  which 


152  Appendix  B, 

the  Spanish  Minister,  acting  under  secret  in- 
structions from  her,  took  the  Government  by 
surprise,  and  there  was  played  a  game,  a  distin- 
guished contemporary  being  judge,  "in  which 
it  was  doubtful  whether  the  woman  and  the 
priest  would  not  be  an  overmatch  for  Narvaez, 
the  bold  and  wary  soldier."  In  1846,  through 
the  exertions  of  Christina  and  the  priests,  Nar- 
vaez was  banished.  By  intrigues  and  maternal 
domination  she  was  a  ruling  spirit  in  Madrid, 
and  during  O'Donnell's  insurrection,  when  Es- 
partero  was  invited  to  become  Premier,  he  de- 
manded, as  a  condition  of  acceptance,  the  imme- 
diate banishment  of  the  queen-mother  and  the 
expulsion  of  her  abettors. 

The  history  of  Isabel  is  more  thrilling  in 
its  facts  and  contrasts  than  a  romance.  Palace 
and  poverty,  homage  and  neglect,  a  queen  and 
an  exile,  prediction  of  early  death,  and  a  hale, 
fat  woman  of  near  sixty  years.  She  was  born 
in  1830,  and  her  father  dying  in  1833,  left  her  a 
queen,  as  his  rightful  heir  to  the  throne.  The 
right  was  contested  by  Don  Carlos,  brother  of 
Ferdinand,  assuming  the  title  of  Don  Carlos 
Y. ;  and  hence  originated  Carlism,  which,  with 
its  pretences  of  legitimac}^  and  loyalty  to  the 
Church,  has  been  almost  to  the  present  hour  the 
fruitful  source  of  disorder  and  conspiracy  and 


Appendix  B,  163 

protracted  and  bloody  civil  war.  Isabel  and 
her  sister,  Maria  Louisa  Fernanda,  the  wife  of 
the  Duke  of  Montpensier,  were  the  only  chil- 
dren of  Ferdinand.  The  question  of  the  right 
of  succession  in  default  of  male  issue  assumed 
tangible  form  in  the  rival  pretensions  of  the 
elder  daughter,  supported  by  the  queen-mother 
and  the  popular  party  on  the  one  side,  and  of 
Don  Carlos  at  the  head  of  the  monks  and  Abso- 
lutists and  many  of  the  aristocracy  on  the  other. 
Caleb  Cushing,in  a  despatch  to  the  Government, 
December  2,  1875,  discusses  the  question  with 
great  learning  and  ability.  "According  to  the 
ancient  laws  of  Spain  and  the  practice  from  the 
time  of  the  formation  of  the  monarchies  of  Cas- 
tile and  Leon  (but  not  Aragon),  females  suc- 
ceeded to  the  crown  in  default  of  direct  male 
succession,  and  in  preference  to  collaterals  of 
the  male  sex.  .  .  .  Although  Philip  V.  claimed 
through  females,  nevertheless,  one  of  his  earliest 
acts  was  to  repeal  the  laws  of  Spain  respecting 
succession,  and  to  introduce  instead  the  Salic 
law  of  France  in  the  form  of  an  auto  accordato, 
or  prerogative  act.  .  .  .  With  the  first  years  of 
the  reign  of  Charles  IV.  (1789)  the  Cortes  peti- 
tioned him  to  repeal  the  auto  accordato  of  Philip 
and  restore  the  immemorial  custom  of  Castile, 
which  admitted  the  succession  of  females  to  the 


154  Appendix  B, 

crown.  The  petition  was  unanimous,  and  the 
King  assented  and  ordered  the  preparation  ac- 
cordingly of  a  pragmatic  sanction  (an  old  name 
for  laws  of  repeal)  to  that  effect,  but  ordered 
further  that  the  whole  proceeding  should  re- 
main secret  and  confidential  until  such  time  as 
the  Crown  in  its  wisdom  might  see  fit  to  give 
publicity  to  the  same.  That  time  arrived  in 
the  reign  of  Ferdinand  VII.  ...  He  determined 
to  promulgate  the  pragmatic  sanction  of  Charles 

IV.,  March  29,  1830 That  the  King  had  the 

right  to  revive  and  restore  the  pre-existing  law 
of  Spain,  a  great  majority  of  Spaniards  of  all 
classes  and  the  most  accredited  jurists  of  Eu- 
rope are  of  accord,  the  more  so,  seeing  that  the 
succession  of  females  is  the  common  law  of  the 
country,  .  .  .  and  accordingly  Isabel  and  her 
son  Alfonso  have  enjoyed  the  recognition  of  all 
foreign  powers,  while  none  have  recognized  Don 
Carlos."  *  Before  Ferdinand  died  a  new  Nuncio 
had  been  appointed.  The  Pope's  brief  accred- 
iting him  was,  however,  awaiting  the  signature 
of  the  Council  of  Castile  when  Ferdinand  died. 
The  Spanish  Government  immediately  commu- 
nicated to  the  Pope  the  death  of  the  King,  and 
the  succession  of  Isabel  II.  by  virtue   of  the 

*  Foreign  Relations,  1875-76,  pp.  442-445. 


Ap2yendix  B.  155 

pragmatic  sanction  and  the  universal  recogni- 
tion of  lier  subjects.  Under  such  circumstances 
international  law  requires  the  renewal  of  the 
credentials  of  diplomatic  agents.  The  Pope 
declined  to  recognize  Isabel.  His  claim  of  in- 
terference in  the  political  and  civil  affairs  of  a 
foreign  independent  nation  caused  a  rupture  of 
the  political  relations  between  Spain  and  Rome. 
The  Spanish  Government  nominated  the  new 
bishops  when  vacancies  occurred.  The  Pope 
objected,  not  because  of  dissatisfaction  with  the 
persons  nominated,  but  because,  not  having  rec- 
ognized Isabel,  he  could  not  confirm  her  bish- 
ops and  thus  imply  a  recognition  of  her  title. 
This  state  of  affairs  continued  until  1848,  when 
the  Pope  yielded  and  Isabel  was  recognized.* 

Becoming  legal  queen  at  three  years  of  age, 
during  her  minority  there  was  a  regency.  Dur- 
ing her  tender  years  she  was  neglected  by  her 
wicked  mother,  and  left  under  tutoresses  and 
governesses  who  were  more  concerned  for  their 
selfish  ends  than  for  the  public  good  or  the  wel- 
fare of  the  child.  She  did  not  receive  the  in- 
tellectual and  moral  training  required  for  a  sov- 
ereign. At  ten  years  she  was  of  slender  frame 
and  feeble  health,  having  from  her  birth  been 

*  Pliillimore,  vol.  ii.,  P-  451. 


156  Appendix  B. 

affected  with  a  cutaneous  disease — "a  sad  be- 
quest, the  fruit  of  her  father's  low  sensuality 
and  dissipations."  Her  early  death  was  pre- 
dicted and  expected.  In  October,  1841  j  a  con- 
spiracy was  formed  to  seize  and  carry  her  to 
the  seat  of  the  insurrection  in  the  Basque  Prov- 
inces, and  a  fruitless  attempt  was  made  to  ab- 
duct her  from  the  palace.  The  principal  con- 
spirator was  arrested,  tried,  condemned,  and 
shot — a  unique  instance  of  summary  punish- 
ment of  a  political  offender. 

Spain  was  in  a  deplorable  condition.  Factions 
flourished,  people  were  turbulent,  the  treasury 
was  empty,  and  expenditures  were  three  years 
in  anticipation  of  resources.  Ephemeral  Minis- 
tries could  not  prevent  public  affairs  from  going 
from  bad  to  worse.  Madrid  in  1843  was  in  pos- 
session of  40,000  insurgents.  Three  rival  gen- 
erals were  in  the  capital.  A  revolutionary  gov- 
ernment was  organized  in  the  name  of  Isabel  II. 
The  Cortes,  on  November  9th,  by  a  vote  of  193 
to  16,  declared  her  of  age,  and  in  presence  of 
State  functionaries  and  the  diplomatic  corps, 
assembled  in  the  palace,  the  child  of  thirteen 
was  so  declared,  and  became  queen  de  facto  as 
well  as  dejure.  The  next  year  there  was  much 
speculation  and  criticism  upon  the  baleful  in- 
fluence and  bad  designs  of  the  queen-mother, 


Appendix  B.  157 

who  accompanied  her  to  some  medicinal  baths. 
There  were  also  plots  and  counterplots  as  to  the 
marriage  of  Isabel,  and  not  unnaturally,  for  the 
most  ambitious  might  covet  an  alliance  which 
would  place  on  the  throne  of  Ferdinand  and  Is- 
abella. Some  efforts  to  secure  an  alliance  with 
the  son  of  Carlos  were  made,  so  as  to  unite  the 
two  claimant  families  to  the  throne.  The  honor 
was  reserved  for  her  cousin  Don  Francisco  de 
Assisi,  and  the  marriage  was  celebrated  in  the 
palace  on  October  10, 1846,  the  royal  consort  be- 
ing invested,  by  courtesy,  with  the  title  of  King 
and  His  Majesty.  It  was  an  ill-fated  and  mis- 
mated  match.  In  six  months  there  was  an  undis- 
guised coolness  between  king  and  queen,  which 
soon  ripened  into  estrangement  from  society  and 
bed.  Two  attempts  were  made,  in  the  course  of 
a  few  years,  upon  the  life  of  the  young  queen, 
one  of  them  by  a  priest,  who  was  garroted,  and 
his  body  was  burned  by  royal  order.  The  Queen 
bore  several  children,  one  of  whom  was  bap- 
tized with  one  hundred  and  nineteen  names,  but 
it  did  not  long  survive.  Before  the  birth  of  the 
last  child  daily  masses  were  said  to  propitiate 
the  Holy  Virgin  and  implore  her  assistance  in 
the  hour  of  trial.  The  Queen  made  her  devo- 
tions at  various  altars  of  the  different  Marys,  such 
as  were  supposed  to  exert  a  happy  influence  on 


158  Appendix  B, 

such  events,  namely,  the  Maria  del  Leche,  Maria 
del  Bueno  Partu,  etc.  Relics  of  saints,  such  as 
legs,  arms,  collar-bones,  etc.,  were  sent  from  va- 
rious parts  of  Spain  to  the  palace,  all  of  which 
have  high  repute  as  efficacious  in  facilitating 
parturition.  The  press  was  full  of  detailed  ac- 
counts of  these  proceedings,  and  the  literature, 
not  very  elevating  or  edifying,  was  much  en- 
joyed by  the  ignorant  and  superstitious. 

In  1868  the  revolution  occurred,  and  the 
Queen  was  dethroned  and  fled  to  France.  Her 
conjugal  infidelity  had  much  to  do  in  awaken- 
ing popular  indignation.  In  1870  she  abdicated 
her  right  to  the  throne  in  favor  of  Alfonso,  the 
Prince  of  the  Asturias.  The  telegram  announ- 
cing the  call  of  Alfonso  to  the  throne  reached 
Paris  at  night.  All  were  asleep  at  the  hotel 
except  the  anxious  mother,  who,  according  to  a 
sketch  of  Alfonso  published  in  1885  in  the  New 
York  Herald,  on  reading  the  glad  news,  hur- 
ried, in  the  lightest  of  negliges^  to  her  son's  bed- 
room, and  cried  aloud,  as  she  awoke  Alfonso 
from  a  sound  sleep,  "  See  !  read !  You  are  king 
of  Spain  !  Permit  me.  Sire,  to  kiss  your  hand 
as  the  first  of  your  Majesty's  subjects."  Al- 
fonso languidly  drew  his  hand  from  under  the 
coverlet,  presented  it  to  his  mother's  lips,  and 
then  turning  over,  fell  asleep  without  having 


Appendix  B,  169 

uttered  a  word.  With  the  accession  of  Alfonso, 
Isabel  returned  to  Madrid,  and  now  she  passes 
her  time  there,  at  Seville  in  the  Alcazar,  and  at 
Paris.  She  receives  from  the  Spanish  Govern- 
ment an  annual  pension  of  $150,000.  Suspected 
of  intrigues  for  the  succession  and  of  interfer- 
ence with  domestic  affairs  in  the  palace,  she  has 
had  from  the  Government  a  gentle  remonstrance 
as  to  her  indiscretions,  and  a  request  not  to  spend 
too  much  of  her  time  in  the  palace.  Many  per- 
sons discredit  any  suspicions  of  personal  ambi- 
tion. She  told  me  she  detested  politics.  She 
is  not  personally  attractive  nor  very  intelligent, 
but  has  cordial  manners  and  is  very  amiable  and 
generous.  No  one  can  condone  her  offences, 
but  there  are  few  persons  who  more  merit  a 
generous  and  merciful  leniency.  Her  husband 
makes  his  separate  home  in  Paris.  Of  this  hero 
of  the  State  policy  and  diplomatic  intrigue,  Wal- 
lis  said,  "There  is  no  risk  in  saying  that  neither 
Lavater  nor  Spurzheim  would  hasten  to  select 
him,  from  outward  signs,  as  the  model  of  a  ruler 
among  men." 

Alfonso  XII.  was  born  November  28,  1857. 
When  his  mother  was  driven  from  the  throne 
and  Spain,  and  found  an  asylum  in  France,  her 
children  accompanied  her.  The  young  Prince 
of  Asturias  was  sent  to  school  at  Vienna,  Paris, 


160  Appendix  B. 

and  in  England.  He  was  a  diligent  student 
and  a  good  scholar.  When  the  Republic  was 
overthrown,  he  was,  on  December  29,  1874, 
proclaimed  king,  and  was  accepted  with  much 
satisfaction  by  the  army  and  the  nation.  At 
seventeen  he  entered  Madrid  on  horseback,  bare- 
headed, dressed  as  a  Spanish  general,  and  sur- 
rounded by  a  brilliant  cavalcade.  Possessed  of 
much  personal  bravery,  he  placed  himself  at  the 
head  of  the  troops  against  the  Carlists.  On  two 
occasions,  when  assassins  tried  to  take  his  life,  he 
behaved  with  conspicuous  coolness.  The  latter 
of  these  attacks  General  Grant  witnessed  from 
the  window  of  his  hotel  overlooking  the  Puerta 
del  Sol.  On  January  23,  1878,  the  King  mar- 
ried his  cousin  Princess  Mercedes,  daughter  of 
the  Duke  of  Montpensier.  He  did  this  against 
public  opinion  and  the  advice  of  hijs  Ministers. 
It  was  a  love-match,  and  deserves  commenda- 
tion, for  few  such  occur  in  the  history  of  roy- 
alty. She  lived  only  ^nq  months,  and  her  death 
filled  the  King  with  a  sorrow  which  drove  him 
into  solitude  from  which  he  was  with  difficulty 
withdrawn.  State  reasons  were  pressed  upon 
him  for  forming  a  new  alliance,  and  on  Novem- 
ber 29,  1879,  he  married  Maria  Christina  of  Aus- 
tria. On  November  25,  1885,  he  died  at  the 
Palace  of  El  Pardo,  a  few  miles  outside  of  Ma- 


Appendix  B,  161 

drid.  The  funeral  services  were  celebrated  with 
great  pomp  and  magnificence.  Arriving  in  Ma- 
drid a  few  hours  prior  to  the  death,  I  saw  him 
lying  in  state  in  the  palace,  and  as  special  en- 
voy represented  the  Government  on  the  occa- 
sion of  the  funeral. 

The  King  was  intelligent  and  popular,  and 
had  many  qualities  to  make  him  a  successful 
ruler.  Tlis  private  life  was  not  such  as  it  should 
have  been,  and  his  early  death  was  doubtless 
due  in  part  to  his  excesses. 

Infanta  Dona  Isabel,  sister  of  the  King,  was 
born  December  20,  1851,  and  made  an  unfortu- 
nate marriage  with  Count  Girgenti,  brother  of 
King  Francis  II.,  of  Naples.  He  committed 
suicide  three  years  afterwards,  leaving  no  chil- 
dren. The  Infanta  is  popular  in  aristocratic 
circles,  is  fond  of  dancing,  driving,  and  riding 
on  horseback,  and  is  often  seen  at  balls  and  re- 
ceptions given  by  ambassadors  and  grandees  of 
Spain.  Her  apartments  in  the  palace,  well  fitted 
up,  are  filled  with  paintings,  engravings,  photo- 
graphs, books,  bric-a-brac,  rare  purchases,  costly 
gifts  from  friends,  and  even  her  toys  as  a  child. 
She  is  a  devout  Catholic,  and  liberal  in  her  pri- 
vate charities  and  in  her  gifts  to  the  Church. 
She  is  a  woman  of  much  intelligence,  of  sound 
discretion,  of  administrative  capacity,  a  shrewd 
11 


162  Appendix  B. 

and  minute  observer  of  people  and  things,  talks 
well  on  serious  subjects,  and  has  her  full  share 
of  Spanish  pride  and  patriotism.  She  has  acted 
with  much  good-sense  in  sustaining  the  Queen- 
regent  in  her  difficult  position.  Very  greatly 
to  her  honor,  calumny  can  find  no  ground  for 
reproaching  the  purity  of  her  life. 

Infanta  Marie -della- Paz  was  married  in 
1883  to  Louis  Ferdinand,  Prince  of  Bavaria. 
Dona  EuLALiA,  youngest  sister  of  the  late  king, 
is  attractive  and  pleasant,  and  has  hosts  of 
friends.  She  was  married  on  March  6,  1886,  to 
her  cousin  Don  Antoine,  son  of  the  Duke  of 
Montpensier.  At  the  Jubilee  of  Great  Britain's 
sovereign  she  worthily  represented  the  Queen- 
regent,  and  attracted  much  attention  by  her 
cordial  manners  and  pleasant  conversation. 

Maria  Christina  was  born  in  1858,  and  her 
father  was  an  uncle  of  the  present  Emperor  of 
Austria.  Her  mother,  the  Archduchess  Eliza- 
beth, is  a  stately,  handsome  woman  of  noble 
carriage,  and  makes  a  visit  once  a  year  to  Ma- 
drid. Educated  with  her  brothers,  Christina  has 
a  knowledge  of  many  branches  of  literature 
and  science,  and  she  keeps  up  her  habits  of 
study.  She  speaks  easily  and  accurately  Ger- 
man, French,  Spanish,  and  English.  She  re- 
signed the  dignity  of  abbess  of  the  Convent  of 


Appendix  B,  163 

Noble  Ladies  in  Prague  to  become  Queen  of 
Spain.  The  marriage  to  Alfonso  was  witnessed 
by  Isabel,  the  Infantas,  the  civil  and  ecclesi- 
asfical  dignitaries,  the  Ministers  of  State,  and 
the  diplomatic  corps.  Thousands  of  people 
were  on  the  streets.  The  balconies  were  hung 
with  many-colored  cloths — a  scenic  display  for 
which  Spain  is  so  famous.  The  nuptial  mass 
was  celebrated  by  the  Patriarch  of  the  Indies,  a 
cardinal,  and  festivals  and  illuminations  added 
to  the  auguries  of  a  life  of  happiness.  Christina 
excluded  herself  from  party  politics  and  Court 
intrigues,  and  confined  herself  to  the  duties  of 
her  household.  Such  complete  self-effacement 
of  the  queen  in  the  wife,  and  such  abstinence 
from  complications  with  families  and  factions, 
made  her  incur  some  ill-will,  and  at  the  death  of 
the  King  she  had  not  such  a  hold  on  the  nation 
as  to  awaken  strong  hopes  of  a  successful  reign. 
Immediately  on  the  death  of  Alfonso  a  Cabi- 
net meeting  was  held,  and  the  widow  was  ap- 
pointed regent.  The  Ministry,  in  accordance 
with  usage,  tendered  their  resignations,  but  con- 
tinued in  office  until  their  successors  should  be 
appointed.  Canovas,  with  magnanimity,  loyal- 
ty, and  patriotism,  advised  the  Queen  to  form  a 
Liberal  Government,  that  in  her  difficult  posi- 
tion she  might  have  the  support  of  both  Liber- 


164  Appendix  B. 

als  and  Conservatives.  She  called  in  Sagasta, 
who  still  remains  at  the  head  of  the  Govern- 
ment. 

The  Queen -regent,  although  inexperienced 
and  a  foreigner,  has  shown  much  tact  and  de- 
termination, has  identified  herself  thoroughly 
with  Spanish  people  and  interests,  has  no  friends 
to  reward  nor  enemies  to  punish,  presides  every 
Thursday  over  the  Council  of  Ministers,  hears 
reports  from  the  head  of  each  Department,  takes 
a  keen  and  intelligent  interest  in  home  and  for- 
eign affairs  ;  and  the  Ministers,  individually  and 
in  the  disclosures  of  personal  friendship,  give 
her  the  highest  praise,  and  speak  with  surprise 
and  gratification  at  her  prudence  and  wisdom 
and  knowledge  of  men. 

Her  Majesty  has  had  but  one  grand  reception, 
which  was  very  brilliant,  and  two  State  dinners, 
one,  and  the  more  formal,  of  which  was  attended 
by  the  ex-queen,  infantas,  damas,  grandees,  the 
Ministry,  and  the  chiefs  of  different  legations 
and  their  wives.  The  two  queens  sat  vis-d-vis 
at  the  table,  and  posts  of  precedence  and  honor 
were  relative  proximity  on  right  and  left  to 
their  Majesties.  The  salon,  lighted  with  near 
one  thousand  candles,  made  joyous  by  the  clas- 
sical music  discoursed  by  select  military  bands, 
by  the  uniforms  and  decorations  of  naval  and 


Appendix  B,  165 

military  and  civil  and  diplomatic  guests,  by 
the  rich  toilets  and  blazing  jewellery  of  the  la- 
dies, and  the  glass  and  silver  and  gold  service, 
brought  to  mind  the  contrast  between  that  brill- 
iant scene  and  Isabel's  first  dinner  at  the  palace 
after  she  was  proclaimed  queen,  when  she  was 
served  from  pewter  plates,  because  from  spolia- 
tions of  her  mother  and  others  nothing  better 
was  to  be  had  in  the  magnificent  royal  resi- 
dence. The  Queen  receives  alone  in  a  little 
salon,  and  is  most  gracious  and  cordial  with  her 
visitors.  Her  manners  are  easy.  Her  face  wears 
ordinarily  a  look  of  subdued  sadness,  but  her 
features  light  up  when  she  smiles  or  talks  with 
animation.  She  is  devoted  to  her  children,  often 
rides  or  walks  with  the  little  infantas,  watches 
over  their  education,  and  is  wrapped  up  in  the 
little  king.  I  have  seen  her  run  out  of  the  sa- 
lon, bring  in  his  Majesty,  hold  him  in  her  arms, 
kiss  him  on  his  cheeks,  expose  his  arms  and  legs, 
and  show  the  most  fascinating  interest  in  his 
health  and  appearance.  One  of  the  Queen's 
loveliest  traits  is  the  frequency  with  which, 
even  on  state  occasions,  the  mother  dominates 
the  sovereign. 

In  a  Court  not  unused  to  slander,  and  where, 
unfortunately,  bad  lives  have  prevented  re- 
proaches from  being  slanderous,  the  slightest 


1G6  Appendix  JB, 

breath  of  suspicion  has  never  rested  upon  the 
fair  fame  of  this  noble  woman.  Once,  in  indig- 
nant, wifely  protest  against  the  infidelity  of  her 
royal  husband,  she  took  her  two  children  and 
travelled  to  Austria,  and  there  remained  until 
induced  to  return  by  renewed  marital  vows, 
supplemented  by  considerations  pertaining  to 
her  children  and  by  high  clerical  influence. 

Don  Alfonso  left  two  daughters,  Maeia  de 
LAS  Mercedes,  Princess  of  the  Asturias,  born 
September  11, 1880,  a  name  given  by  the  Queen 
to  her  first  child  in  honor  of  the  first  wife, 
whose  memory  she  knew  her  husband  cherished, 
and  Maria  Theresa  Elizabeth,  born  Novem- 
ber 12,  1882. 

In  May,  1886,  nearly  six  months  after  the 
death  of  Alfonso,  Alfon^so  XIII.  was  born.  He 
was  born  a  king — a  fact  unprecedented  in  royal 
annals.  His  birth  was  anticipated  with  eager 
anxiety  and  intense  national  concern.  Great 
as  Elizabeth  and  Maria  Theresa  and  Catherine 
and  Isabella  the  Catholic  were  as  sovereigns, 
it  was  felt  that  "  a  man  child "  was  necessary 
for  the  repose  of  Spain  and  the  peaceful  con- 
tinuance of  the  dynasty.  In  Spain,  with  its  tra- 
ditional etiquette  and  adherence  to  antiquated 
things,  the  old  usage  of  witnesses  to  a  royal 
birth,  to  keep  free  from  suspicion  the  legitimacy 


Appendix  B,  167 

of  the  succession,  is  observed  with  scrupulous 
care  and  forethought.  Several  days  prior  to 
the  expected  birth,  the  diplomatic  corps  is  for- 
mally invited  by  the  introducer  of  ambassadors 
to  witness  the  presentation.  When  the  event 
is  imminent  a  special  notice  is  sent,  and  each 
chief  of  a  mission  responds  promptly,  dressed 
in  full  uniform.  On  the  lYth  of  May,  the  dip- 
lomatic corps,  the  members  of  the  Government, 
distinguished  military  and  civil  officers,  assem- 
bled in  a  large  reception-room  in  the  palace. 
After  an  hour's  waiting,  Seiior  Sagasta,  the 
President  of  the  Council  of  Ministers,  announced 
the  happy  consummation  and  the  sex  by  ex- 
claiming, "  Viva  el  Rey."  The  witnesses  hav- 
ing proceeded  to  a  room  adjoining  the  chamber 
of  the  Queen-regent,  profert  was  made  of  the 
royal  scion  in  puris  naturalihus.  There  was 
no  aureole,  nor  any  manifestation  of  the  divin- 
ity that  is  said  to  hedge  a  king,  nor  any  evi- 
dence that  he  was  in  anywise  different  from 
the  child  of  a  peasant.  The  new  king  was  re- 
ceived everywhere  in  Spain  with  satisfaction 
and  cheerful  declarations  of  support.  Don  Car- 
los, from  his  exile,  protested  against  the  "  usur- 
pation" of  the  infant  king,  and  reasserted  his 
rights  as  the  legitimate  sovereign,  but  his  mani- 
festo was  impotent  and  unheeded.     Five  days 


168  Appendix  B, 

afterwards  the  baptism  occurred  in  the  royal 
chapel.  The  grandees,  the  Ministers  of  the 
Crown,  deputations  from  the  Cortes  and  the 
municipality,  civil,  military,  and  clerical  dig- 
nitaries, the  diplomatic  corps  with  their  wives, 
occupied  tribunes  around  the  font,  which  was 
placed  in  the  centre  of  the  chapel.  The  pre- 
scribed mourning  being  suspended  for  that  day, 
the  men  mostly  wore  dazzling  uniforms,  while 
the  toilets  of  the  ladies,  enriched  by  the  precious 
stones  for  which  Spain  is  so  noted,  were  beauti- 
ful and  splendid.  Such  gorgeousness  is  rarely 
seen.  The  ceremony  was  not  destitute  of  polit- 
ical significance  ;  for  the  Pope,  yielding  to  the 
request  of  the  Queen  to  stand  sponsor  to  her 
child,  had  deputed  the  Nuncio,  Monsignor  Ram- 
polla  (who  is  now  the  papal  Secretary  of  State  in 
Rome),  to  represent  him.  This  concession  was 
almost  a  death-blow  to  Carlism,  which  claims  to 
be  par  excellence  Catholic,  and  has  derived  its 
principal  strength  from  Ultramontanism. 

About  the  time  of  my  leaving  Madrid  an  in- 
cident occurred  which  illustrates  the  religious- 
ness of  the  Queen  and  her  acceptable  conformity 
to  a  national  custom.  The  viaticum  was  borne 
through  the  Puerta  del  Sol  as  the  Queen,  with 
her  two  daughters,  was  passing  in  a  carriage. 
As  soon  as  she  saw  it,  ordering  the  coachman 


Appendix  B.  169 

to  stop,  she  dismounted  and  made  the  priest 
take  her  place,  while  she,  with  the  children,  fol- 
lowed on  foot.  The  crowd,  moved  by  this  spec- 
tacle of  humility,  attended  her  to  the  church, 
which  she  entered  behind  the  priest.  After 
praying  for  some  moments,  her  Majesty  re- 
tired, and  the  enthusiastic  multitude  surround- 
ed the  carriage,  unwilling  to  let  her  depart. 

The  luxuries  of  royalty  are  furnished  to  Spain 
at  the  annual  cost  of,  for  the  King,  $1,400,000  ; 
the  Princess  of  Asturias,  $100,000  ;  the  Infanta 
Isabel,  $50,000  ;  the  Infanta  Paz,  $30,000 ;  the 
Infanta  Eulalia,  $30,000  ;  the  Duchess  of  Mont- 
pensier,  $50,000 ;  the  ex-Queen  Isabel,  $150,000 ; 
and  her  husband,  Francisco,  $60,000. 


APPENDIX  C. 

Present  Aspect  of  Spain. 

Paper  constitutions,  however  perfect  in  the- 
ory, do  not  execute  themselves  nor  make  good 
government.  There  must  be  much  behind  them 
in  the  virility  and  self-reliance,  in  the  intellect- 
ual alertness  and  moral  force  of  the  people,  to 
secure  material  prosperity,  high  civilization,  or 
national  greatness.  That  Spain  has  suffered 
incalculably  from  bad  government,  civil  and  re- 
ligious, cannot  be  denied.  To  give  some  infor- 
mation on  the  present  condition  of  the  country, 
it  has  seemed  well  to  group  under  appropriate 
heads  what  has  been  obtained  after  diligent 
inquiry.  Accurate  and  recent  statistics  it  is 
almost  impossible  to  get,  and  one  may  well  be 
on  his  guard  as  to  any  statements  about  educa- 
tion, commerce,  revenues,  population,  etc. 

1,  Population. — Many  causes,  ancient  and 
modern,  have  prevented  the  increase  which  is 
seen  in  other  parts  of  Europe.  The  expulsion  of 
the  Jews,  the  banishment  of  the  Moors,  chronic 
revolutions,  civil  fratricidal  wars,  insecurity  of 


Appendix  C,  171 

person  and  property,  have  been  hinderances  to 
growth.  There  is  no  fixed  period  for  taking 
the  census.  The  last  was  taken  in  1877,  and  the 
preceding  one  in  1864,  and  information  which 
may  lead  to  taxes  and  conscription  is  reluctant- 
ly given.  At  the  last  enumeration  the  actual 
population  was  16,634,345;  by  right,  16,753,591, 
The  latter  is  found  by  deducting  immigrants 
not  permanently  domiciled  and  adding  Span- 
iards who  have  left  animo  revertendL  Of  the 
actual  population,  th6  males  were  8,136,331  and 
the  females  8,500,014.  The  percentage  of  deaths 
was  reported  at  about  25  per  1000.  The  press 
of  Madrid,  on  February  1, 1887,  reported  50,000 
deaths  in  Spain,  the  preceding  year,  from  diph- 
theria. Dr.  Ilauser,  who  has  published,  un- 
der the  auspices  of  the  Government,  a  very 
able  report,  says  that  the  deaths  from  cholera 
in  1885  amounted  to  120,000.  For  April,  1888, 
in  Madrid  there  were  1355  births  and  1276 
deaths. 

2.  Value  of  Property  and  Amount  of  Taxa- 
tion.— The  aggregate  value  of  real  estate  can 
be  ascertained  only  approximately  and  inferen- 
tially.  In  the  last  budget  the  territorial  tax  is 
assessed  at  $35,400,000,  representing  16  per  cent, 
of  4he  productive  value  of  landed  property,  or 
$220,000,000.      There  is  no  certain  means  of 


172  Appendix  C, 

knowing  the  value  of  the  personal  property. 
The  annual  taxation,  as  given  in  the  last  few 
budgets,  would  make  it  about  $170,000,000. 
The  assessment  of  the  tax  on  real  property  is 
based  on  reports  made  by  the  municipal  juntas. 
There  is  a  tax  on  trade  and  industry,  based  on 
a  tariff  varying  in  proportion  to  the  nature  of 
the  trade  or  industry  and  the  number  of  the  in- 
habitants of  the  town.  An  octroi  duty — a  gate- 
tax  on  consumption  —  is  levied  on  salt,  soap, 
coal,  wax,  vegetables  and  other  provisions,  and 
is  collected  at  the  gates  or  the  borders  of  the 
town.  This  odious  espionage  tax  varies  ac- 
cording to  population,  the  minimum  being  5000, 
and  gives  to  the  numerous  officers  frequent 
means  for  oppression  and  peculation.  Where 
exchange  is  so  much  fettered  and  government 
is  an  ingenious  process  of  squeezing,  production 
is  much  curtailed.  American  travellers,  having 
had  their  luggage  examined  at  the  frontier  cus- 
tom-'houses,  are  much  surprised  and  grumble 
not  a  little  at  the  annoyance  of  examinations 
as  they  enter  every  town ;  but  it  does  not  lie  in 
the  mouth  of  one  of  our  people  to  complain  of 
the  custom-house  grievances  of  other  countries. 
Banks  pay  10  per  cent,  on  the  net  profits  which 
are  divided  among  shareholders.  Railways  pay 
a  tax  of  10  per  cent,  on  all  travellers'  tickets, 


Appendix  C.  173 

and  a  tax  of  five  cents  on  every  |500  of  trans- 
portation of  freight.  In  1886  the  taxation  per 
capita  was  about  $9.84.  The  income  from  cus- 
toms duties  by  last  budget  was  estimated  at 
$27,000,000,  and  from  export  duty,  assessed  on 
cork  and  argentiferous  lead,  at  $20,000. 

The  revenues  of  the  Government  are  badly 
collected  and  at  a  loss  of  a  ruinous  percentage. 
It  is  doubtful  whether  half  reaches  the  treas- 
ury, and  the  inadequacy  for  national  obligations 
need  not  therefore  be  surprising.  No  one  is 
ignorant  of  the  corruption  in  the  fiscal  depart- 
ment, of  the  bribes  and  frauds  ;  and  the  saying 
of  the  Spaniards  that  money,  like  oil,  sticks  to 
the  fingers  of  those  who  handle  it,  is  well  justi- 
fied by  the  collection  of  revenue.*  Spain  owes 
more  than  one  thousand  million  of  dollars,  and 
in  every  annual  budget  a  floating  debt  of  25  per 
cent,  of  the  budget  is  authorized,  and  this  is  the 
ordinary  recourse  for  meeting  habitual  deficits 
and  extraordinary  expenditures.  The  finance 
ofiicer  has  "a  hard  road  to  travel"  in  devising 


*  Ford  says,  "  In  a  land  where  public  officers  are  inade- 
quately paid,  where  official  honesty  and  principle  are  all  but 
unknown,  a  bribe  is  all  sufficient ;  false  returns  are  regularly 
made,  and  every  trick  resorted  to  to  transfer  revenue  into  the 
pockets  of  the  collectors." 


174  Appe7idix  C, 

desperate  expedients,  contracting  usurious  loans, 
living  from  hand  to  mouth,  and  robbing  Peter 
to  pay  Paul.  Smuggling  is  a  vocation  in  Spain, 
and  its  existence  is  as  well  known  as  the  capital 
of  the  kingdom.  "The  smuggler  is  the  type 
and  channel  of  the  really  active  principle  of 
trade "  in  a  large  portion  of  the  Peninsula. 
Making  Gibraltar  a  free  port  is  an  act  of  fla- 
grant wrong  to  Spain,  and  is  a  stimulus  to  vio- 
lations of  revenue  laws.  The  Bank  of  Spain, 
established  in  1872  with  a  capital  of  $50,000,000 
and  a  privilege  of  enlargement  to  $150,000,000, 
the  only  bank  of  issue  in  the  kingdom  (until 
lately  its  notes  were  printed  by  the  American 
Bank  Note  Company),  is  fast  becoming  the 
manager  of  the  finances  of  the  nation.  It  has 
now  the  monopoly  of  the  sale  of  tobacco,  and 
collects  the  taxes  on  real  estate,  commerce,  and 
industry,  because  those  taxes  are  mortgaged  for 
the  payment  of  money  borrowed. 

3.  Hallways  and  other  Roads, — The  old  Ro- 
man roads  have  mostly  fallen  into  decay  and 
disuse.  Prom  Madrid  there  diverge  to  the  prin- 
cip"^  seaport  and  frontier  towns  good  highways, 
but  intercommunications  are  sadly  defective. 
In  the  beginning  of  1885  there  were  5420  miles 
of  railway,  and  the  principal  towns  are  now  em- 
braced in  the  system.     All  belong  to  private 


Appendix  (7.  175 

companies,  and  were  built  by  private  capital, 
aided  by  subventions  from  the  Government  on 
the  condition  that  the  latter  shall  take  posses- 
sion in  ninety-nine  years.  There  are  general- 
ly three  trains  :  the  express,  the  mail,  and  the 
mixed,  each  of  which  furnishes  first,  second,  and 
third  class  compartments  for  travellers.  The 
fast  train  does  not  carry  the  mail ;  and  on  the 
general  principle  that  nothing  is  to  be  done  in 
a  hurry,  the  mail  which  arrives  at  Madrid  at  six 
in  the  morning  quietly  rests  until  eight  at  night 
before  starting  on  its  southward  journey.  In 
1883  there  were  over  10,000  miles  of  telegraphic 
lines,  and  in  the  last  budget  the  appropriation 
for  their  management  (they  belong  to  the  Gov- 
ernment) was  $1,564,800. 

4.  Marriages  are  allowed,  with  consent  of 
parents  or  guardians,  as  soon  as  contracting  par- 
ties are  sufficiently  developed.  Without  this 
consent,  the  minimum  age  for  the  male  sex  is 
twenty-three,  and  for  the  female  twenty.  Per- 
mission to  contract  matrimony  is  granted  on 
application  at  the  vicar's  office,  where  the  cer- 
tificate of  birth  of  both  parties  must  be  exhib- 
ited, and  a  fee  of  $12  paid.  An  extra  charge 
of  $30  must  be  paid  if  haste  is  desired  by  the 
omission  of  the  publication  of  the  banns  during 
the  fete  days.     The  priest  performing  the  cere- 


176  Appendix  C, 

mony  receives  $6.  The  expense  and  delay  at- 
tending marriage  tend  to  the  unions  without 
authorization  which  are  so  common  in  Spain. 
In  a  purely  civil  marriage,  seldom  occurring, 
application  must  be  made  to  the  municipal 
judge.  Every  canonical  marriage  must  be  en- 
tered in  the  Civil  Register.  Absolute  divorces 
a  vincido  matrimonii  are  not  permitted,  but 
separations  without  any  privilege  of  remarriage 
can  take  place.  The  ecclesiastical  courts  have 
jurisdiction  of  applications  for  separation.  Sta- 
tistics are  very  imperfect  as  to  the  legitimacy 
of  offspring.  It  is  said  that  the  average  of  ille- 
gitimacy in  the  whole  country  is  between  five 
and  six  per  cent.,  and  in  Madrid  twenty  per  cent. 
M  Dia  of  February  1,  1887,  said  that  during 
the  January  preceding  there  had  been  in  Ma- 
drid 1402  births  and  1744  deaths;  of  the  births, 
284  were  illegitimate  and  1118  legitimate.  In 
April,  1888,  there  were  1101  legitimate  and  354 
illegitimate  births. 

Some  amends  are  made  for  the  obstacles 
thrown  in  the  way  of  marriage  by  the  abundant 
provision  made  for  foundling  hospitals.  Most 
cities  are  supplied  with  these  institutions  for 
caring  for  the  sinless  children  of  sin.  A  rough 
English  captain  said  they  should  be  labelled 
"Adultery  made  easy."     By  law  of  1822,  a  hos- 


A^ypendix  C.  117 

pital  is  required  for  each  province,  divided  into 
a  compartment  for  lying-in  women,  another  for 
infants,  and  a  third  for  children  under  six.  The 
law  of  1849  turns  over  the  duty  of  providing 
foundling  hospitals  to  the  provinces,  and  orders 
the  provincial  juntas  to  appoint  committees  of 
women  to  supervise  these  establishments.  A 
nurse  sits  up  at  night  to  receive  the  children 
whose  parents  would  conceal  their  guilt,  and 
any  examination  of  or  interference  with  moth- 
ers desiring  to  leave  their  children  in  these  hos- 
pitals is  strictly  forbidden. 

During  coverture  a  woman  cannot  have  a 
separate  estate,  sign  papers,  make  contracts, 
perform  legal  acts,  without  the  authority  of  her 
husband,  but  the  husband  only  can  nullify  the 
acts. 

5.  JOaw  of  Inheritance, — By  will,  heirs  are  of 
two  kinds,  voluntary  and  involuntary  {forzo- 
sos).  The  latter  are  the  direct  line  from  testa- 
tor; the  former,  collateral  or  strangers.  The 
testator  must  leave  his  property  to  his  herederos 
forzosos,  or  state  his  reasons  for  not  so  doing. 
The  legal  causes  for  disinherison  are  age  of 
more  than  ten  and  a  half  years,  grave  insults, 
attempts  to  kill,  accusation  of  serious  crime, 
abandonment  of  testator  while  insane,  and  mar- 
riage without  his  consent.  These  reasons,  so 
12 


178  Appendix  C. 

far  as  applicable,  will  excuse  one  for  disinherit- 
ing parents.  In  case  of  intestacy,  children  share 
equsiWj,  pe)'  capita,  ^yiihout  distinction  of  age  or 
sex.  Grandchildren,  in  case  of  parent's  death, 
inherit  j(96r  stirpes.  Natural  children,  in  default 
of  legitimate  children,  can  inherit  from  their 
mother. 

As  in  England,  the  Government  derives  a  rev- 
enue from  a  tax  on  succession,  which  was  esti- 
mated in  the  last  budget  at  $6,200,000.  These 
taxes  on  inheritance  vary  as  to  degree  of  rela- 
tionship. By  law  of  1881,  when  the  heir  is  le- 
gitimate and  in  the  direct  line,  the  tax  is  one 
per  cent. ;  when  illegitimate,  two  per  cent.  Col- 
lateral relationship  is  run  out  from  second  de- 
gree at  four  per  cent,  to  the  fifth  at  seven  per 
cent.,  and  one  per  cent,  is  added  for  each  degree 
from  the  sixth  to  the  tenth.  Strangers  must 
pay  nine  per  cent.  The  Government  levies  a 
tax  of  twelve  per  cent,  upon  money  left  to  be 
expended  in  masses  for  the  repose  of  the  soul 
of  the  deceased.  This  may  be  to  discourage 
such  bequests ;  for  a  shrewd  observer  of  Span- 
ish affairs  says,  "  More  money  has  been  expend- 
ed in  masses  than  would  have  covered  Spain 
with  railroads,  even  on  a  British  scale  of  mag- 
nificence and  extravagance." 

6.  Titles, — The  civil  titles  are  duke,  duchess, 


Appendix  C.  1V9 

marquis,  marchioness,  count,  countess,  viscount, 
and  viscountess.  These  titular  distinctions,  di- 
viding society  into  artificial  classes,  import  no 
official  superiority,  no  legal  prerogatives  and 
privileges  beyond  some  functions,  social  and 
ceremonial,  pertaining  to  the  palace  or  the  sov- 
ereign. By  the  law  of  1820  and  1855,  a  title 
follows  the  order  of  succession  established  in 
the  concession  ;  but  the  possessor  of  several 
grandezas  of  Spain,  or  titles  of  Castile,  may 
distribute  them  among  his  sons  as  he  sees  fit. 
A  possessor  of  several  titles  may  bestow  some 
upon  brothers  or  relatives.  In  every  succession 
or  bestowment,  the  heir  or  grantee  must  obtain 
a  letter  of  confirmation,  and  pay  a  tax  as  fol- 
lows :  grandee  of  Spain  with  title  of  duke,  mar- 
quis, or  count,  $2000;  grandee  with  title  of  vis- 
count, $1800;  grandee  with  title  of  baron  or 
senor,  $1600;  grandeza  without  title,  $1200; 
title  of  marquis,  $800  ;  of  viscount,  $600 ;  of 
baron  or  seiior,  $400.  When  there  is  more  than 
one  title,  there  is  an  addition  of  two-thirds  of 
the  tax  for  the  second,  and  of  one-half  for  the 
third,  or  any  after  the  third.  A  nobleman  may 
resign  a  title  without  its  being  lost  or  lapsed,  as 
his  son  can  assume  it  on  paying  the  sum  as  re- 
quired for  the  succession.  Titles  are  not  pur- 
chasable, but  proceed  from  the  sovereign. 


180  Appendix  (7. 

7.  Civil  Service, — By  laws  of  1852,  1866,  and 
1875,  elaborate  arrangements  are  provided  for 
examination,  admission,  and  scales  of  promotion 
in  the  civil  service.  The  theory  of  the  diplo- 
matic career  is  that  men  are  appointed  after  ex- 
amination, trained  in  foreign  office  or  as  unpaid 
attaches  to  legations,  and  are  made  and  kept  as 
ministers  and  ambassadors  until  retired  upon 
pensions.  Madrid,  without  commerce,  without 
industry  of  any  importance,  with  scarce  an  ele- 
ment of  production,  official  Madrid  is  crowded 
with  civil  officials,  with  military  and  naval  offi- 
cers, with  expectants  waiting  and  scheming  for 
the  return  of  their  party  to  power.  The  au- 
thor of  that  clever  little  book,  "  L'Espagne  telle 
qu'elle  est,"  affirms  that  the  politicians  of  Ma- 
drid have  formed  among  themselves  a  sort  of 
society  for  mutual  succor,  and  although  belong- 
ing to  different  parties,  work  harmoniously  to 
conserve  the  system  which  enables  them  to  get 
their  support,  directly  or  indirectly,  from  the 
Government.  The  spoils  idea  has  fullest  and 
most  mischievous  exemplification.  Retiring  al- 
lowances and  pensions  help  to  foster  the  claims 
to  patronage  and  to  subordinate  the  public  good 
to  "  disgraceful  struggles  for  the  possession  of 
office  and  public  place."  Civil  officers  and 
judges  may  retire  after  they  have  attained  six- 


Appendix  C,  181 

ty,  or  be  retired  on  reaching  sixty-five,  if  they 
have  had  twenty  years  of  service.  An  earlier 
retirement  is  allowed  on  proof  of  disability. 
The  pay  of  retired  civil  officers  after  twenty 
years  of  service  is  forty  per  cent,  of  active  pay ; 
after  twenty-five  years,  sixty  per  cent.,  and  after 
thirty-five  years,  eighty  per  cent.  The  maxi- 
mum of  pay  for  retired  civil  officers  is  $2000. 
Such  civil  officers  as  entered  the  service  before 
1845  have  a  right,  when  not  holding  office,  to 
half -pay.  Crown  ministers,  who  have  as  such 
held  office  for  two  years,  and  diplomats  who 
have  had  eighteen  years'  service,  are  entitled  to 
$1500  annually.  On  the  civil  pension  list  of 
1877,  the  latest  statistics  published,  there  were 
9478  men  and  7614  women.  The  amount  paid 
as  pensions  to  civil  and  military  officers  and 
widows  and  orphans  of  such,  in  1887,  was  $10,- 
041,945. 

8.  The  Army  is  raised  by  conscription,  but 
exemption  can  be  purchased  on  payment  of 
$400.  The  peace  footing  is  from  80,000  to  90,- 
000  men  ;  the  war  footing  near  400,000.  The 
term  of  service  is  twelve  years — three  active, 
three  in  active  reserve,  and  six  in  the  second 
reserve.  Officers  are  appointed  from  graduates 
of  military  schools,  in  some  cases  from  compet- 
itive examinations.     The  lieutenant-general  in 


182  Api^endix  C. 

command  is  paid  per  annum  $5000,  not  in  com- 
mand, $3750;  field  -  marshal,  $2500;  brigadier, 
$1800;  colonel,  $1600;  commandant,  $1100;  cap- 
tain, $750  ;  lieutenant,  $400  ;  sub  -  lieutenant, 
$380;  1st  sergeant,  $182.50;  2d  sergeant,  $127.75; 
corporal,  $100.35  ;  soldier,  $91.25.  Captains- 
general,  usually  commanding  a  district,  of  which 
there  are  fourteen,  receive  special  allowance  and 
pay  according  to  the  dignity  and  importance  of 
the  post.  The  fixed  rules  for  promotion  are 
disregarded,  and  the  most  open  favoritism  is 
practised. 

Private  soldiers  or  sailors  disabled  in  the  serv- 
ice are  cared  for  by  the  Government.  They  en- 
ter the  Invalid  Corps,  and  their  former  pay  is 
continued.  Those  that  have  families  have  the 
choice  of  living  outside  the  Home.  Disabled 
ofiicers  can  also  enter  the  Invalid  Corps,  their 
pay  being  continued  as  in  active  service,  and 
promotion  every  fifteen  years  being  granted 
until  the  grade  of  colonel  is  reached.  For  he- 
roic courage  and  military  distinction  additional 
remuneration  is  provided.  Privates  and  non- 
commissioned officers  for  military  distinction 
are  rewarded  with  the  cross  for  military  merit, 
and  fifty  cents  a  month  during  active  service ; 
for  special  service  in  time  of  war,  with  the  same 
cross  and  $1.50  a  month  cTuring  life;  for  heroic 


Appendix  C.  183 

bravery,  the  Cross  of  St.  Ferdinand  and  from 
$50  to  $120  during  life  to  sergeants,  and  $20  to 
$80  during  life  to  corporals  and  privates.  Offi- 
cers are  rewarded  for  similar  services  with  the 
Cross  of  St.  Ferdinand  and  during  life  from  $75 
to  $300  for  captains,  $100  to  $400  for  superior 
officers,  and  from  $500  to  $2000  for  generals. 
The  retired  pay  of  army  and  navy  officers  is 
thirty  per  cent,  of  active  pay  after  twenty  years' 
service,  and  proportionately  until  after  forty 
years'  service,  when  ninety  per  cent,  of  active 
pay  is  given.  Generals  are  not  retired,  but  are 
placed  on  the  reserve  list  with  from  $2000  to 
$2500  a  year,  according  to  rank. 

Frequent  reference  has  been  made  in  the 
course  of  this  little  historj^  to  the  influence  of 
the  army  on  Spanish  politics,  and  the  use  of 
that  lever  by  all  parties  and  leaders  for  the  ac- 
complishment of  their  patriotic  ends  or  selfish 
ambitions.  Public  opinion  and  popular  elec- 
tions are  too  slow  or  too  uncertain  agencies  for 
effecting  political  reforms,  getting  rid  of  objec- 
tionable rulers,  or  satisfying  the  greed  for  place 
and  honors.  Liberals,  Progressives,  and  Con- 
servatives have  looked  to  and  used  the  army  for 
executing  their  plans.  When  palace  intrigues 
or  royal  prerogatives  have  failed,  or  when  the 
tide  of  events  lingered  too  long  for  the  impa- 


184  Appendix  C, 

tient  and  impecunious,  in  the  barracks  have 
been  found  the  facile  and  effective  means  of 
reaction  and  revolution.  For  three-quarters  of 
a  century  pronunciamentos  have  been  common 
in  Spain,  and  the  regular  process  of  law  has 
been  set  aside  by  the  prompter  action  of  sol- 
diers. O'Donnell,  Espartero  and  Narvaez,  Cas- 
telar  and  Serrano,  have  yielded  their  places  at 
the  bidding  of  troops.  Alfonso  came  in  on 
bayonets,  and  since  there  have  been  compara- 
tive quiet  and  acquiescence  in  the  improving 
order  of  things,  and  yet  in  1883  Sagasta  fell 
after  the  revolutionary  surprise  at  Badajos. 
There  was  a  military  insurrection  at  Gerona  in 
1884,  another  at  Carthagena  in  1885,  and  still 
another  at  Madrid  in  1886,  which  came  as  the 
first  in  the  reign  of  Alfonso  XIII.  These  were 
stupid,  and  outwardly  not  very  serious,  and  yet 
they  showed  discontent  and  habits  of  indisci- 
pline in  the  ranks,  and  a  readiness  on  the  part 
of  officers  to  use  the  forces  in  their  command 
for  self-promotion  or  the  overthrow  of  the  Gov- 
ernment. 

The  evil  of  political  ambition  in  the  army 
and  of  the  association  of  political  consequences 
with  military  insurrections  is  not  easily  cured. 
The  French  army  has  always  honorably  ab- 
stained from  becoming  an  instrument  of  politi- 


Appendix  C,  185 

cal  agitation,  but  in  Spain  the  army  is  a  recog- 
nized agency  for  political  revolutions  ;  and  the 
interference,  instead  of  being  punished  sum- 
marily and  exemplarily,  is  accepted  as  legiti- 
mate. Patriotic  statesmen  shrink  from  drastic 
and  adequate  measures  for  the  extirpation  of  a 
chronic  evil,  the  outgrowth  of  revolutions,  civil 
wars,  political  usages,  mock  parties  and  elec- 
tions. In  18T6,  250,000  soldiers  were  disbanded, 
but  the  officers  were  retained,  and  by  degrees 
even  Carlist  officers,  from  brigadier  -  general 
downward,  had  their  army  rank  recognized. 
The  vast  horde  of  poorly  paid  and  unemployed 
officers  are  an  inviting  field  for  political  in- 
trigue, and  constitute  a  band  of  ready  conspir- 
ators, who  listen  to  the  seductive  voices  of  wily 
men,  and  dream  that  by  the  turn  of  the  wheel 
they  can  become  the  future  Prims  of  the  coun- 
try. The  effort  to  reorganize  the  army  and 
place  it  on  a  more  economical  and  efficient  ba- 
sis, made  by  the  present  Liberal  Government, 
has  been  too  timid  and  superficia],  but  it  has 
encountered  from  the  Opposition  and  the  army 
such  resistance  as  to  make  its  adoption  almost 
an  impossibility. 


APPENDIX  D. 

[From  Amebioan  Magazine  of  History,  April,  18SS.] 
The  Acquisition  of  Florida. 

At  the  beginning  of  this  century  the  relations 
of  the  United  States  with  foreign  powers  were 
much  complicated.  At  no  other  period  of  our 
history  have  so  many  and  such  difficult  ques- 
tions of  an  international  character  been  pre- 
sented for  discussion  and  settlement.  The  wis- 
dom and  firmness  and  potential  influence  of 
Washington,  the  strong  republican  convictions 
of  Adams,  the  large  and  varied  ability  of  Jef- 
ferson, Madison,  and  a  number  of  eminent  di- 
plomatists, the  patriotism  and  integrity  of  all, 
were  demanded  in  full  to  adjust  our  new  re- 
public to  her  rightful  position  in  the  family  of 
nations.  International  jurisprudence  was  in  an 
unsettled  condition.  It  has  very  slowly  ac- 
quired the  certainty  and  precision  now  recog- 
nized by  government  courts  and  by  treatises  on 
the  Law  of  Nations.  In  fact,  no  nation  since 
1789  has  contributed  more  to  the  settlinjj:  of  the 


Appendix  D.  189 

principles  which  underlie  the  mutual  rights  and 
duties  of  independent  political  communities  than 
the  United  States.  In  1823,  Canning,  the  Prime- 
minister,  distinguished  for  his  thorough  knowl- 
edge of  international  law,  said  in  the  House  of 
Commons,  "If  I  wished  for  a  guide  in  a  sys- 
tem of  neutrality,  I  should  take  that  laid  down 
by  America  in  the  days  of  the  presidency  of 
Washington  and  the  secretaryship  of  Jefferson." 
Phillimore,  in  his  great  work,  says  of  the  Non- 
intercourse  Act  of  1809,  "It  w^as  worthy  of  the 
country  which  has  contributed  such  valuable 
materials  to  the  edifice  of  International  Law." 
President  J.  Q.  Adams,  in  his  message,  1826, 
speaks  of  our  first  treaty  with  Prussia  as  "  mem- 
orable in  the  diplomatic  annals  of  the  world,  and 
precious  as  a  monument  of  the  principles  in  re- 
lation to  commer<?e  and  maritime  warfare  with 
which  our  country  entered  upon  her  career  as 
a  member  of  the  great  family  of  independent 
nations."  The  Ediiihurgh  llevieio,  in  a  notice 
of  Judge  Wharton's  "Digest,"  associating  him 
in  legal  literature  with  Kent,  Story,  and  Whea- 
ton,  recognizes  fully  the  indebtedness  of  mod- 
ern international  law  to  the  United  States,  and 
adds,  "  The  international  law  of  the  United 
States  is  characterized  by  a  marked  individual- 
ity and  independence  of  thought.     The  states- 


190  Appendix  D, 

men  of  the  republic  have  not  felt  themselves 
bound  by  theories,  however  venerable,  or  been 
troubled  by  the  conflicting  views  of  eminent  ju- 
rists. They  have  rested  their  contentions  on  clear 
principles  which  they  have  evolved  for  them- 
selves, and  they  have  enunciated  their  views 
without  obscurity  and  with  perfect  straightfor- 
wardness." 

The  United  States  had  just  been  admitted  as 
a  coequal  into  the  great  family,  but  she  was 
nevertheless  regarded  as  a  parvenu,  an  intrud- 
er, and  the  principles  of  her  Constitution  were 
looked  upon  with  distrust  and  suspicion,  not  to 
say  with  hatred  and  contempt,  by  the  crowned 
heads  and  those  who  affirmed  and  practised  the 
right  of  coalition  against  any  power  that  sought 
to  disturb  the  European  equilibrium,  or  ques- 
tioned the  "right  divine"  of  kings  and  nobility. 
At  this  day,  when  our  power  is  respected  and 
feared,  and  our  growth  and  prosperity  are  an 
unceasing  wonder,  we  can  hardly  understand 
how  we  were  belittled  and  insulted,  and  what 
constant  and  studied  disregard  and  violation  of 
our  equal  rights  were  inflicted  in  our  infancy. 
A  willingness  to  go  to  war  with  France  for  the 
maintenance  of  our  dignity,  the  punishment  of 
the  pirates  in  the  Mediterranean,  a  war  with 
England,  extension  of  territory,  an  unwavering 


Appe7idix  D,  191 

assertion  of  our  equality,  vindicated  the  right 
to  an  independent  existence  and  to  a  participa- 
tion in  all  that  belonged  to,  or  grew  out  of,  the 
intercourse  of  nations.  Perhaps  the  friction 
was  greater,  and  the  willingness  to  apply  the 
law  which  governs  external  affairs  of  communi- 
ties was  more  reluctant,  because  of  the  early 
avowals  of  Washington  and  Jefferson  that  our 
cis-Atlantic  country  was  not  to  be  harassed  by 
entangling  alliances  with  European  States.  Re- 
fusing to  become  an  integral  part  of  the  great 
European  system,  to  ally  herself  with  foreign 
governments  in  their  dynastic  wars  and  endless 
disputes  as  to  succession,  balance  of  power,  and 
rectification  of  boundaries,  the  United  States 
found  the  European  governments  inclined  to 
ignore  the  rights  of  her  citizens  and  her  claim 
to  the  freedom  of  the  seas. 

Troubles  with  Spain  began  during  the  admin- 
istration of  Washington,  and  continued  up  to 
the  slow  acknowledgment  of  the  independence 
of  her  former  colonies,  sometimes  verging  on 
serious  hostilities.  As  early  as  1788,  with  the 
connivance  and  active  agency  of  Gardogue,  the 
Spanish  Minister  at  Washington,  an  effort  was 
made  to  detach  the  trans- Alleghany  country 
from  the  Union,  and  in  1792  there  was  a  seri- 
ous difference  of  opinion  and  discussion  as  io 


\ 


192  Appendix  D. 

the  navigation  of  the  Mississippi.  In  1801,  Mr. 
Charles  Pinckney,  then  Minister  at  Madrid,  was 
instructed  to  urge  on  the  Spanish  Government 
redress  for  sufferings  from  capture  by  priva- 
teers unlawfully  cruising  out  of  Spanish  ports, 
and  from  unlawful  condemnations  by  Spanish 
tribunals.  The  spoliations  committed  on  Amer- 
ican commerce  were  so  heavy,  and  tribunals  of 
justice  and  the  Government  failing  to  give  re- 
dress, a  clear  intimation  was  made  that  more 
effective  measures  must  be  resorted  to.  The 
importance  of  the  question,  Mr.  Pinckney  was 
told,  would  require  all  his  zeal,  patriotism,  and 
delicacy.  Some  efficient  effort  was  due  to  the 
sufferers  and  "to  the  dignity  of  the  United 
States,  which  must  always  feel  the  insults  of- 
fered to  the  rights  of  individual  citizens."  The 
irritations  with  Spain  had  been  aggravated  by 
her  possessions  on  our  frontier,  by  her  national 
Xjride  and  sensitiveness,  and  by  her  ancient 
claims  of  precedence  over  other  States.*    ^ 

*  In  Evelyn  and  the  Memoirs  of  Gramont  is  a  curious 
incident  growing  out  of  Spanish  arrogance  in  1660,  at  the 
Court  of  Great  Britain.  The  Spanish  ambassador,  on  the 
occasion  of  the  public  entry  of  the  Swedish  ambassador  into 
London,  claimed  precedence  of  the  French  ambassador.  This 
so  offended  Louis  XIV.  that  he  compelled  his  rival  to  submit 
to  the  mortification  of  acknowledging  the  French  superiority. 


Appendix  D,  1    f 

The  purchase  of  Louisiana  from  France, 
1803,  excited  a  controversy  between  Spain  and 
the  United  States  which  continued  with  more  or 
less  acrimony  until  the  whole  question  of  terri- 
tory and  boundary  w^as  settled  by  the  acquisi- 
tion of  Florida.  The  acquisitions  of  Louisiana 
and  Florida  were  almost  inseparably  allied,  and 
our  Government,  as  early  as  1804,  sought,  but  in 
\\  vain,  the  influence  of  the  French  Government  in 
V  favor  of  our  construction  of  the  treaty,  and  to 
^  help  in  the  acquisition  of  territory  east  of  the 
Perdido  River.  It  would  be  a  hopeless  task  to 
seek  to  unravel  all  the  treaties  made  since  that 
of  Utrecht,  1713,  w^hich  concern  the  extent  and 
the  boundaries  of  the  various  territorial  divis- 
ions between  Georgia  and  the  Rio  Grande. 

In  1763,  what  was  then  known  as  Louisiana 
was  divided  between  Great  Britain  and  Spain. 
France  lost  by  this  treaty  all  her  possessions  in 
North  America.  In  addition  to  Canada,  she 
ceded  to  Great  Britain  the  river  and  port  of 
Mobile  and  all  her  possessions  on  the  left  side 

Louis  caused  a  medal  to  be  struck  commemorative  of  this 
victory,  in  which  the  Spanish  ambassador  was  represented  as 
making  the  declaration  to  the  king,  "No  concurrer  con  los 
ambassadores  de  Francia,"  with  this  inscription,  "Jus  prjece- 
dendi  assertum,"  and  under  it,  "Ilispanorum  excusatio  co- 
ram XXX.  legatis  principium,  1662."  ' 

13 


194  Apperidix  D. 

of  the  Mississippi,  except  ISTew  Orleans  and  the 
island  on  which  it  was  situated.  The  residue  of 
Louisiana  was  ceded  to  Spain  in  a  separate  and 
secret  treaty.  The  cession  of  Florida  to  Great 
Britain  was  the  price  paid  for  the  restoration  of 
Cuba  to  Spain.  Great  Britain  divided  the  ter- 
ritory into  East  and  West  Florida,  and  in  1783 
ceded  them  to  Spain,  and  the  provinces  were 
known  and  governed  by  these  names  as  long  as 
they  remained  under  the  dominion  of  His  Cath- 
olic Majesty.  Spain,  thus  owning  both  banks 
of  the  Mississippi  at  its  mouth  and  for  some 
distance  above,  claimed  the  exclusive  naviga- 
tion below  the  point  of  the  southern  boundary 
of  the  United  States.  The  refusal  of  the  use 
of  the  lower  river  aroused  much  and  indignant 
feeling  in  the  West.  Kentucky  and  Virginia 
made  vigorous  protests  against  a  proposition  to 
concede  Spain's  right  to  close  navigation.  The 
angry  dispute  was  terminated  by  the  treaty  of 
I'ZOo,  one  article  of  which  provided  that  the 
river  should  be  open  to  the  navigation  of  the 
citizens  of  the  United  States  from  its  source  to 
the  ocean.  Another  article  granted  the  right 
of  deposit  in  the  port  of  New  Orleans,  and  to 
export  thence  merchandise  and  effects  on  the 
payment  of  warehouse  hire.  By  the  treaty  of 
October  1, 1800,  between  the  French  Republic 


Appendix  D,  195 

and  Spain,  known  as  the  St.  Ildefonso  treaty, 
Spain  made  a  retrocession  to  France  of  the 
province  of  Louisiana  as  at  that  time  possessed 
by  Spain,  and  "  such  as  it  was  w^hen  France  pos- 
sessed it."  When  this  cession  occurred,  Great 
Britain  and  the  United  States  took  alarm.  Mr. 
Jefferson  in  his  message,  December  15, 1802,  said, 
''  The  cession  of  the  Spanish  province  of  Louisi- 
ana to  France,  which  took  place  in  the  course 
of  the  late  war,  will,  if  carried  into  effect,  make 
a  change  in  the  aspect  of  our  foreign  relations, 
which  will  doubtless  have  just  weight  in  any  de- 
liberations of  the  Legislature  connected  with  that 
subject."  With  the  sagacity  of  a  statesman  he 
saw  how  essential  the  property  and  sovereignty 
of  the  Mississippi  and  its  waters  were,  to  secure 
an  uncontrolled  navigation  and  an  independent 
outlet  for  the  produce  of  the  Western  States, 
"free  from  collision  with  other  powers  and  the 
dangers  to  our  peace  from  that  source,"  and 
therefore  he  authorized  propositions  to  be  made 
for  obtaining  the  sovereignty  of  New  Orleans 
and  of  other  possessions  in  that  quarter. 

The  abrupt  closing  in  1802  of  the  port  of  New 
Orleans,  without  the  assignment  of  any  other 
equivalent  place  of  deposit,  and  the  injuries  sus- 
tained until  the  restoration  of  the  right  of  de- 
posit, suggested   naturally  the   expediency  of 


196  Appendix  D. 

guarding  against  their  recurrence  by  the  acqui- 
sition of  a  permanent  property  near  the  entrance 
of  the  Mississippi  into  the  Gulf.  The  lirst  prop- 
ositions were  treated  by  France  with  decided 
neglect.  "  The  French  Government,"  said  Mad- 
ison, "  had  manifested  a  repugnance  to  the  pur- 
chase which  left  no  expectation  of  an  arrange- 
ment with  France  by  which  an  acquisition  was 
to  be  made,  unless  in  a  favorable  crisis,  of  which 
advantage  should  be  taken."  The  distress  of 
French  finances,  the  unsettled  posture  of  Eu- 
rope, the  increasing  jealousy  between  Great 
Britain  and  France,  made  "the  favorable  cri- 
sis," and  Bonaparte,  on  April  30,  1803,  agreed 
to  sell  or  cede  his  new  acquisition  to  the  United 
States.  The  words  of  the  treaty  were  some- 
what remarkable ;  but  it  is  important,  in  view 
of  subsequent  discussions  and  negotiations,  to 
bear  in  mind  that  in  the  transfer  the  identical 
language  was  employed  that  had  been  used  in 
1800,  so  that  the  Government  of  the  United 
States  was  subrogated,  in  express  terms,  to  the 
rights  of  France  and  of  Spain.  Phillimore,  in 
recording  this  "  derivative  acquisition  "  of  ter- 
ritory, says,  "  It  belongs  to  the  province  of  the 
historian  to  record  the  ineffectual  regret  of  de- 
ceived and  injured  Spain,  and  the  sagacity  of 
the  United  States  in  profiting  by  the  troubles 


Appendix  D.  197 

of  Europe,  both  at  this  period  and  subsequently, 
by  the  acquisition  of  Florida." 

Spain  remonstrated  with  France  against  the 
cession  of  Louisiana,  and  endeavored  to  prevent 
the  execution  of  the  treaty,  being  not  unwilling 
to  use  pecuniary  arguments  if  they  promised 
success.  Mr.  Cevallos,  the  Spanish  Minister  for 
Foreign  Affairs,  in  an  interview  with  Mr.  Charles 
Pinckney,  our  Minister  at  Madrid,  denied  the 
right  of  France  to  make  such  a  cession,  alleging 
that  in  the  preceding  cession  by  Spain  to  France 
there  was  a  secret  article  that  France  should 
never  part  with  Louisiana  except  to  Spain,  and 
that  if  she  ever  wished  to  dispose  of  it,  Spain 
should  have  the  pre-emption.* 

*  American  State  Papers,  567,  568,  598.  The  Marquis 
Casa  Irujo,  the  Spanish  Representative,  protested  against  the 
cession  as  a  sort  of  crime,  and  Mr.  Onis  treated  it  as  a  just 
cause  of  complaint  on  the  part  of  Spain.  I  have  applied, 
througli  the  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs,  for  the  evidence  of 
this  secret  agreement,  and  have  been  assured  that  it  does  not 
exist  in  the  archives.  Besides,  the  cession  by  France  was 
made  with  the  full  knowledge  of  Spain,  and  no  objection  was 
made  until  Irujo's  protest.  In  March,  1803,  the  American 
Minister  in  Spain  was  informed  of  the  transfer  of  Louisiana 
to  France,  and  in  answer  to  an  application  made  by  the  direc- 
tion of  his  Government,  Don  Pedro  Cevallos  stated  "  that  by 
the  retrocession  made  to  France  of  Louisiana  that  power  re- 
gained the  province  with  the  limits  it  had,  saving  the  rights 


198  Appe7idix  D. 

This  discontent  of  Spain  increased  her  unwill- 
ingness to  make  a  prompt  and  peaceable  settle- 
ment of  the  vexed  questions  which  had  been 
pending  for  some  years  between  the  two  coun- 
tries, and  which  every  month's  delay  increased 
in  number  and  exasperation.  In  the  instructions 
to  Mr.  Pinckney,  March  31, 1804,  Mr.  Madison 
made  an  elaborate  argument  to  show  that  the 
eastern  boundary  of  Louisiana  extended  to  the 
Perdido.  For  many  years  the  controversy  was 
waged.  The  United  States  insisted  that  by  the 
treaty  of  1800  Spain  ceded  the  disputed  terri- 
tory, as  part  of  Louisiana,  to  France,  and  that 
France,  in  turn,  in  1803,  ceded  it  to  the  United 
States.  Spain,  with  equal  earnestness  and  per- 
sistence, maintained  that  her  cession  to  France 
comprehended  what  was  at  that  time  denomi- 
nated Louisiana,  consisting  of  the  island  of  New 
Orleans  and  the  country  west  of  the  Mississippi. 

acquired  by  other  powers ;  and  that  the  United  States  could 
address  themselves  to  the  French  Government  to  negotiate 
the  acquisition  of  territories  which  might  suit  their  purpose." 
The  Spanish  Government  was  apprised  of  the  intention  of 
the  United  States  to  negotiate  for  the  purchase.  The  Span- 
ish Ambassador  witnessed  the  progress  of  the  negotiation  at 
Paris,  and  the  conclusion  of  the  treaty  was  promptly  known 
and  understood  in  Madrid.  No  objection  was  interposed  at 
the  time,  and  no  protest  was  then  made. 


Appendix  D.  199 

C.  J.  Marshall,  in  Foster  v,  Neilson,  6  Peters,  306, 
said,  "  Every  word  in  that  article  of  the  treaty 
of  St.  Ildefonso  which  ceded  Louisiana  to  France 
was  scanned  by  the  Ministers  on  both  sides  with 
all  the  critical  acumen  which  talents  and  zeal 
could  bring  into  their  service.  Every  argument 
drawn  from  collateral  circumstances  connected 
with  the  subject,  which  could  be  supposed  to 
elucidate  it,  was  exhausted."  Each  party  ad- 
hered to  the  original  opinion  and  purposes.  The 
arguments,  read  after  fifty  years  have  elapsed, 
do  not,  on  either  side,  seem  so  conclusive  as  to 
leave  no  loop  to  hang  a  doubt  upon.  The  very 
forcible  contention  of  the  United  States,  that 
France  having  ceded  the  province  of  Louisiana 
in  full  sovereignty,  with  all  the  rights  which 
belonged  to  her  under  the  treaty  of  1800,  the 
United  States  succeeded  to  those  rights,  was 
enfeebled  somewhat  by  the  declaration  of  Tal- 
leyrand, that  by  the  treaty  of  St.  Ildefonso  Spain 
retroceded  no  part  of  the  territory  east  of  the 
Iberville,  which  had  been  held  and  known  as 
West  Florida,  and  that,  in  all  the  negotiations 
between  the  two  Governments,  Spain  had  con- 
stantly refused  to  cede  any  part  of  the  Floridas, 
even  from  the  Mississippi  to  the  Mobile.  In 
January,  1805,  Mr.  Monroe  arrived  in  Madrid, 
having  been  commissioned  with  special  author- 


200  Appendix  D, 

ity  to  act  in  conjunction  with  Mr.  Pinckney,  and 
he  remained  over  a  year  in  the  vain  endeavor  to 
effect  a  settlement  of  the  matters  in  controver- 
sy. Coupled  with  the  adjustment  of  the  Louisi- 
ana boundary  and  other  matters  in  dispute,  was 
a  proposition  to  purchase  the  whole  of  Florida 
for  a  sum  of  money  which  was  designedly  left 
indefinite.  In  the  draft  of  a  treaty  for  the  ac- 
complishment of  the  two  principal  ends  and  for 
the  payment  of  outstanding  claims,  was  a  prop- 
osition to  have,  for  a  term  of  years,  a  neutral 
ground  between  the  west  of  Louisiana  and  the 
Spanish  territory,  now  known  as  Texas.  The 
neutral  territory  was  to  be  so  limited  or  defined 
as  not  to  deprive  the  United  States  of  the  wa- 
ters flowing  into  the  Gulf  between  the  Missis- 
sippi and  Colorado  rivers. 

The  voluminous  correspondence  shows  a  strong 
desire  on  the  part  of  the  Government  at  Wash- 
ington to  terminate  amicably  all  existing  differ- 
ences, and  to  place  the  relations  between  Spain 
and  the  United  States  on  a  basis  of  permanent 
friendship.  The  extraordinary  nature  of  the 
commission  was  a  distinct  declaration  of  the 
critical  state  of  affairs  and  of  the  importance 
of  the  questions  at  issue.  The  United  States 
claimed  indemnification  for  damages  done  to 
peaceful  and  lawful  commerce  within  the  juris- 


Appendix  D.  201 

diction  of  Spain,  and  for  the  losses  which  ac- 
crued from  the  suspension  of  the  right  of  de- 
posit at   ISTew  Orleans,  as  guaranteed  by  the 
treaty  of  l'/95.     A  board  of  independent  and 
impartial  men  was  suggested,  with  authority  to 
consider  and  to  adjust  counter-claims  between  • 
the  two  nations.     The  gist  of  the  negotiations,   \ 
however,  artful  as  may  have  been  the  attempt   j 
not  to  make  too  conspicuous,  was  the  settlement   ; 
of  the  western  boundary  of  Louisiana  and  the  j 
acquisition  of  Florida.     In  the  instructions  to  ' 
Mr.  Monroe,  April  15,  1804,  he  was  (l)  to  ob- 
tain the  sanction  of  Spain  to  the  late  cession  of 
Louisiana  to  the  United  States  ;  (2)  to  procure 
the  cession  of  territory  held  by  Spain  east  of 
the  Mississippi ;  and  (3)  to  make  provision  for 
the  payment  of  American  claims.  ^ 

The  masterly  presentation  of  all  the  points 
mooted  by  our  representatives  is  of  interest 
chiefly  to  the  historical  student,  because  the 
United  States  has  now  undisputed  ownership 
of  the  whole  coast-line  from  St.  Mary's  to  the 
Rio  Grande,  and  no  question  with  a  foreign 
power,  based  on  the  old  contention,  can  possi- 
bly arise.   The  cases  before  the  Supreme  Court,* 

*  2  Peters,  Foster  v.  Neilson ;  6  Peters,  Arredondo;  12 
Peters,  Garcia ;  9  Howard,  United  States  v.  Reynes ;  11  Wal- 
lace, United  States  v.  Lynde,  etc. 


202  Appendix  B. 

supplemented  by  the  legislation  of  Congress, 
have  settled  the  land  contests  growing  out  of 
sovereignty  and  ownership,  which  the  United 
States  anticipated  and  tried  to  prevent.  In  the 
progress  of  the  negotiation,  Rio  Bravo  vras 
mentioned  as  a  limit  of  Spanish  and  the  Colo- 
rado as  the  limit  of  American  settlement.  The 
President  was  very  averse  to  the  occlusion  from 
settlement,  for  a  long  period,  of  a  wide  space  of 
territory  westward  of  the  Mississippi,  and  to  a 
perpetual  relinquishment  of  any  eastward  of 
the  Rio  Bravo,  and  the  relinquishment,  if  made, 
must  be  conditioned  on  the  entire  cession  of  the 
Floridas.  It  was  in  arguendo  suggested  to 
Messrs.  Monroe  and  Pinckney  that  if  Spain  were 
engaged  in  or  threatened  with  war  she  might  be 
more  willing  to  yield  to  terms  which,  however 
proper  in  themselves,  ''might  otherwise  be  re- 
jected by  her  pride  or  misapplied  jealousy."  In 
an  able  letter  to  Cevallos  our  commissioners  said 
that  as  the  United  States  surrounded  Florida, 
except  where  the  ocean  intervened,  it  was  an 
object  to  possess  it.  The  acquisition  of  Louisi- 
ana had  minified  the  importance  of  the  posses- 
sion, but  as  long  as  Spain  held  it  it  w^ould  be  a 
cause  of  jealousy  and  variance,  for  each  nation 
would  be  compelled  to  have  a  strong  force,  and 
other  powers  would  be  interested  in  provoking 


Appendix  JD.  203 

a  rupture.  Florida  being  in  the  hands  of  the 
United  States,  all  cause  of  inquietude  and  mis- 
understanding would  be  at  an  end,  territories 
and  police  would  be  distinct,  military  stations 
would  be  removed  from  each  other,  and  neither 
power  would  be  interested  in  disturbing  the 
concerns  of  the  other. 

On  January  28,  1805,  the  commissioners  sub- 
mitted the  project  of  a  convention  for  the  ad- 
justment of  claims  and  the  cession  of  the  Flori- 
das.  Florida  was  "known  not  to  be  fertile," 
and  no  land  greed  actuated  the  United  States, 
for  they  had  "  territory  enough  to  satisfy  their 
growing  population  for  ages  to  come."  Probably  •, 
this  opinion,  that  the  United  States  had  within 
their  limits  what  "  it  will  take  ages  to  fill,"  was 
caused  by  the  fact,  as  stated,  that  "the  territory 
on  both  sides  of  the  Mississippi  is  yet  a  wilder- 
ness," and  these  arrangements,  required  by  mut- 
ual interests,  were  important  to  be  made  "while 
it  remained  so."  These  sagacious  men  had  not 
the  vaguest  conception  of  the  boundless  prog- 
ress of  our  people  under  the  energy  of  free  in- 
stitutions. Reasons  of  safety  and  peace  were 
the  predominating  influence  for  pressing  the 
acquisitions.  The  "project"  contained  what 
seemed  to  be  a  favorite  plan  in  Washington, 
and  which,  in  the  light  of  subsequent  events. 


204  Appendix  D, 

seems  to  us  visionary,  not  to  say  absurd.  *'This 
was  the  establishment  of  an  intervening  neutral 
territory,  to  remain  such  for  twenty  years,  and 
give  time  for  ulterior  arrangements."  The  sub- 
mission of  the  proposed  convention  led  to  a  pro- 
longed and  somewhat  acrimonious  discussion. 
At  intervals,  notes  were  interchanged.  The 
Spanish  Minister  of  State,  Don  Pedro  Cevallos, 
by  tone,  language,  utter  indisposition  to  accom- 
modate the  business  on  just  principles,  annoy- 
ing and  studied  delays,  became  offensive  to  the 
commissioners,  who,  although  "  hurt "  at  the 
treatment  they  received,  exhibited  remarkable 
forbearance  and  tact.  With  persistency  and 
iteration,  with  repeated  avowals  of  respect  and 
desire  for  peaceful  arrangement,  and  with  a 
commendable  abstinence  from  all  recrimination 
or  menace,  the  contention  and  wishes  of  the  Unit- 
ed States  were  presented.  On  the  12th  of  May, 
1805,  the  commissioners  submitted  the  ultimate 
conditions  on  which  they  were  authorized  to 
adjust  the  points  depending  between  the  two 
Governments,  and  they  are  here  reproduced 
with  some  fulness  as  illustrative  of  the  points  at 
issue,  and  the  exceeding  difficulties  of  the  pro- 
tracted negotiations  which  finally  added  Flor- 
ida to  the  Union.  "  On  condition  his  Catholic 
Majesty  will  concede  the  territory  eastward  of 


Appendix  D.  205 

the  Mississippi,  and  arbitrate  the  claims  of  the 
citizens  and  subjects  of  each  power,  according 
to  the  convention  of  August  11,  1802  (which  up 
to  this  time  Spain  had  refused  to  ratify),  the 
convention  will  agree  to  make  the  Colorado  the 
boundary  between  Louisiana  and  Spain,  estab- 
lish a  district  of  territory  of  thirty  leagues  on 
each  side  of  the  line,  which  should  remain  neu- 
tral and  unsettled  forever,  and  relinquish  the 
claim  for  spoliations  committed  by  the  French 
within  the  jurisdiction  of  Spain  and  the  claim 
to  compensation  for  injuries  received  by  the 
suppression  of  the  deposit  at  New  Orleans." 
The  propositions  were  absolutely  rejected,  and 
Mr.  Monroe,  considering  the  negotiation  con- 
cluded, asked  and  obtained  his  passports,  that 
he  might  repair  to  London,  where  he  was  the 
Resident  Minister.  Before  his  departure  from 
Madrid,  he  and  Mr.  Pinckney  gave  an  account 
of  their  "  unwearied  and  laborious  exertions," 
and  of  the  utter  failure  of  the  mission  in  all  its 
objects. 

The  recapitulation  of  the  history  of  the  effort 
to  adjust  the  differences  has  at  this  day,  when 
we  are  quietly  enjoying  the  fruits  of  this  and 
subsequent  negotiations,  rather  a  humorous  as- 
pect. Candor,  conciliation,  urgency,  modera- 
tion of  language,  patience,  were  met  by  pleas  in 


206  Appendix  D. 

abatement,  pleas  for  delays,  irrelevant  discus- 
sions, imperious  tone,  exaggerated  pretensions, 
and  a  general  behavior  that  made  it  incumbent 
on  commissioners  to  argue  and  protest  that  they 
were  not  the  dupes  of  the  management  of  the 
Spanish  diplomat.  Mr.  Pinckney  soon  resigned 
and  returned  home.  In  these  liypercritical  and 
iconoclastic  days  it  has  become  common  to  dis- 
parage that  eminent  patriot  and  statesman, 
James  Monroe.  An  examination  of  his  services 
in  Spain  shows  exceptional  qualifications  as  a 
diplomatist  :  prudence,  self-restraint,  courtesy, 
dignity,  tact,  energy,  familiarity  with  treaties 
and  international  law,  ability  in  argument,  de- 
votion to  his  country's  honor  and  interests, 
marked  in  a  conspicuous  manner  his  public  life 
in  this  most  difficult  of  all  courts.  Judge  Whar- 
ton, more  familiar  than  any  other  person  with 
our  diplomatic  history,  says  in  reference  to  ne- 
gotiations with  England,  "  that  in  ability,  can- 
dor, and  fairness,  Mr.  Monroe's  papers  stand  in 
the  front  rank  of  diplomatic  documents." 

The  Government  at  Washington,  deeply  sen- 
sible of  the  importance  of  the  post  at  Madrid, 
and  of  the  urgency  of  the  pending  questions, 
appointed  James  Bowdoin,  of  Boston,  as  Minis- 
ter Plenipotentiary,  and  afterwards  associated 
General  Armstrong  in  a  special  mission  respect- 


Appendix  D,  207 

ing  these  delicate  Spanish  controversies.  The 
object  of  the  United  States  in  reference  to  the 
Floridas  was  clearly  made  known  to  them,  and 
equally  as  explicitly  to  George  W.  Erving,  who, 
as  secretary  of  legation,  in  the  absence  of  his 
chief,  became  charge  d"" affaires,  Mr.  Erving 
remained  in  Spain  until  August,  1810,  when  he 
returned  to  the  United  States.  From  the  with- 
drawal of  Monroe  and  Pinckney  to  the  arrival 
of  Mr.  Erving,  in  July,  1816,  as  Minister,  scarce- 
ly anything  of  a  diplomatic  character  was  ac- 
complished between  the  two  countries.  The 
distracted  state  of  Spain,  the  internal  convul- 
sions, and  wars  with  other  countries,  made  it 
impossible  to  accomplish  anything  in  the  two 
chief  matters  intrusted  to  our  representatives. 
The  hostilities  between  Great  Britain  and  Spain 
were  concluded  by  the  treaty  of  peace,  ami- 
ty, and  alliance  of  January  14,  1809,  when  the 
two  belligerents  became  allies  against  France,  a 
common  enemy,  and  there  ensued  that  famous 
Peninsular  campaign  of  Wellington,  wherein  he 
out-manoeuvred  and  defeated  Napoleon's  best 
marshals,  and  the  more  remarkable  guerilla  con- 
tests— a  moder  of  warfare  borrowed  from  the 
Moors — in  which  the  skill  and  experience  of  the 
best-trained  officers  and  soldiers  of  France  found 
more  than  a  match  in  the  desultory  warfare  of 


208  Appendix  D. 

the  indomitable  Spaniards.  The  prosecution  of 
campaigns  required  all  resources,  physical  and 
intellectual.  A  struggle  for  dynasty  and  exist- 
ence left  little  leisure  or  inclination  for  trans- 
atlantic questions.  There  could  have  been  no 
more  unpropitious  period  for  calm  discussion 
and  parting  with  territory.  Besides,  Spain  was 
doubly  irritated,  the  United  States  having  been 
compelled  to  occupy  Florida.  This  forcible 
seizure  grew  out  of  the  claims  for  spoliations, 
the  inability  of  Spain  to  maintain  her  authority 
in  Florida  and  repress  depredations  and  insur- 
rections, and  the  intrusive  occupation  by  Great 
Britain  of  Pensacola  and  other  portions  of  the 
province.  The  shifting  events  in  Europe  made 
the  passing  of  Florida  into  the  possession  of 
another  power  not  improbable,  and  it  became 
imperative  to  seize  and  hold  the  country,  sub- 
ject to  future  and  friendly  negotiation. 

In  1814,  Mr.  Anthony  Morris,  who  had  author- 
ity to  receive  '*' informal  communications"  from 
the  Spanish  Government,  expressed  the  opinion 
that  East  and  West  Florida  could  be  purchased. 
He  intimated  that  ten  thousand  dollars  for  dou- 
ceurs would  be  "  indispensable,"  as  the  different 
departments  of  the  Spanish  Government  were 
not  sufficiently  "regenerated"  to  allow  great 
hopes  of  success  without  the  use  of  means  of 


Appendix  D,  209 

this  description.  This  suggestion  elicited  no 
consideration  nor  reply.  In  1816,  January  19, 
on  the  renewal  of  the  suspended  diplomatic  re- 
lations, Mr.  Monroe,  as  Secretary  of  State,  sug- 
gested to  Chevalier  de  Onis  that  it  furnished  a 
proper  occasion  for  the  consideration  of  the  dif- 
ferences in  relation  to  the  purchase  of  Louisiana 
and  the  contested  limits.  In  March,  1816,  Mr. 
Monroe  informed  Mr.  Erving  that  Onis  had  in- 
timated that  the  Spanish  Government  might  be 
willing  to  cede  its  claim  for  territory  on  the 
eastern  side  of  the  Mississippi  in  satisfaction  of 
claims,  and  in  exchange  for  territory  on  the 
western  side.  The  United  States  proposed  to 
accept  a  cession  of  Florida  as  a  basis  of  the  re- 
lease of  claims  held  by  citizens  of  the  United 
States  against  Spain,  and  offered  at  the  same 
time,  by  way  of  compromise,  to  take  the  Colo- 
rado River  as  the  western  boundary  of  the  Lou- 
isiana purchase,  although  it  had  been  previously 
maintained  that  that  purchase  extended  to  the 
Rio  Grande.  Mr.  Monroe  and  Mr.  J.  Q.  Adams 
held  very  strongly  that  the  Rio  Grande  was  the 
true  south-western  boundary.  Mr.  Onis  declared 
these  propositions  inadmissible,  went  into  elab- 
orate repetitions  of  the  discussions  of  1802-1805, 
and  demanded  restoration  of  places  occupied  by 
Federal  troops.  On  July  19,  1818,  Don  Jose  Pi- 
14 


210  Appendix  D, 

zarro,  writing  to  Mr.  Erving,  said,  "In  one  of 
our  late  conferences  I  had  tlie  honor  to  state  to 
you  anew  his  Majesty's  readiness  to  cede  both 
of  the  Floridas  to  tlie  United  States  ...  in  con- 
sideration of  a  suitable  equivalent  to  be  made 
to  his  Majesty  in  a  district  of  territory  situated 
to  the  westward  of  the  Mississippi."  In  July 
and  August,  Mr.  Erving,  replying  to  the  Span- 
ish Minister  of  State,  refers  to  "  his  Majesty's 
disposition  to  cede  his  possessions  to  the  east  of 
the  Mississippi  for  a  reasonable  equivalent,"  and 
suggests  instead  of  the  guarantee  of  Spanish 
territory  by  the  United  States — a  thing  which 
could  not  be  done — a  better  guarantee  in  the 
form  of  "  a  desert,"  or  unoccupied,  uninhabited 
tract  of  thirty  leagues  on  the  Colorado,  extend- 
ing up  to  32°  north  latitude,  as  "a  barrier  be- 
tween the  possessions "  of  the  two  countries. 
Negotiations  between  the  two  countries  were 
suspended,  by  formal  notice,  until  satisfaction 
should  be  made  for  the  proceedings  of  General 
Jackson  in  Florida,  which  his  Catholic  Majesty 
denounced  as  outrages  upon  his  dignity  and 
honor,  and  for  which  he  demanded  apology  and 
indemnity.  John  Quincy  Adams,  in  papers 
which  are  an  enduring  monument  to  his  patriot- 
ism and  ability,  "carried  the  war  into  Africa," 
and  charged  and  proved  that  it  was  "  to  the  con- 


Appendix. D,  211 

duct  of  her  own  commanding  officers  that  Spain 
must  impute  the  necessity  under  which  General 
Jackson  found  himself  of  occupying  the  places 
of  their  command."  "The  horrible  combina- 
tion of  robbery,  murder,  and  war  with  which 
the  frontier  of  the  United  States  bordering  upon 
Florida  has  for  several  years  past  been  visited 
is  ascribable  altogether  to  the  total  and  lamen- 
table failure  of  Spain  to  fulfil  the  fifth  article  of 
the  treaty  of  1795,  by  which  she  stipulated  to 
restrain  by  force  her  Indians  from  hostilities 
against  the  citizens  of  the  United  States." 
"  Had  the  engagements  of  Spain  been  fulfilled, 
the  United  States  would  have  had  no  Seminole 
War."  Far  from  indemnifying  the  Crown  of 
Spain  for  losses  sustained,  the  American  Minis- 
ter at  Madrid  was  instructed  that  the  Crown  of 
Spain  should  indemnify  the  United  States  for 
the  expenses  of  a  war  which  Spain  was  bound 
to  prevent. 

It  is  difficult  to  realize  the  vexatious  vicissi- 
tudes which  attended  this  long-drawn-out  nego- 
tiation. In  course  of  time  it  at  last  became  ap- 
parent, even  to  Spain,  that  Florida  must  come 
under  the  sovereignty  of  the  United  States.  The 
idea  of  its  transference  to  another  foreign  pow- 
er was  not  to  be  tolerated  for  a  moment.  Its 
continued   retention  by   Spain,  remote,  proud, 


212  Appendix  D, 

sensitive,  jealous,  involved  in  foreign  wars  and 
chronic  internal  turmoils,  would  generate  cease- 
less trouble  and  necessitate  quasi -belligerent 
forces  on  the  border.  Indian  incursions  and 
depredations,  unprevented  by  Spanish  authori- 
ties, made  it  imperative  to  cross  the  line  in  pur- 
suit, and  for  the  punishment  of  the  savages. 
"Masterly  inactivity,"  a  phrase  borrowed  by 
Mr.  Calhoun,  in  his  Mexican  War  speeches,  from 
Sir  James  Mackintosh,  was  too  feeble  a  policy. 
The  vigilance  of  Erving  and  other  Ministers  was 
unceasing.  Efforts  to  purchase  were  thwarted. 
N^egotiations  were  begun  and  suspended.  Pro- 
crastination was  pursued  under  specific  instruc- 
tions to  that  end.  The  patience  and  forbear- 
ance and  moderation  of  the  United  States  had 
been  wonderful.  Even  Mr.  Adams  restrained 
largely  his  irritability  of  temper  and  vitriol  ism 
of  pen ;  but  this  patient  submission  was  mani- 
festly nearing  an  end.  Mr.  Onis,  seeing  that 
procrastination  as  a  game  and  a  policy  was  ex- 
hausted, sent,  on  October  24,  1818,  to  Mr.  Ad- 
ams, a  proposition  to  cede  all  the  property  and 
sovereignty  possessed  by  Spain  in  and  over  the 
Floridas,  under  certain  conditions.  The  condi- 
tions were  promptly  rejected  ;  a  "  final  offer " 
on  the  part  of  the  United  States  was  made ; 
matters  grew  worse,  and  belligerent  measures 


Appendix  D,  213 

seemed  imminent.  Mr.  Adams,  October  31, 
1818,  used  this  significant  language:  "The Pres- 
ident is  deeply  penetrated  with  the  conviction 
that  further  protracted  discussion  .  .  .  cannot 
terminate  in  a  manner  satisfactory  to  our  Gov- 
ernments. From  your  answer  to  this  letter  he 
must  conclude  whether  a  final  adjustment  of  all 
our  differences  is  now  to  be  accomplished,  or 
whether  all  hope  of  such  a  desirable  result  is, 
on  the  part  of  the  United  States,  to  be  aban- 
doned." After  some  letters,  showing  a  wide 
divergence  of  views,  on  January  11,  1819,  Mr. 
Onis  announced  that  by  a  courier  extraordinary 
from  his  Government  he  was  authorized  to  give 
a  greater  extent  to  his  proposals.  On  the  9th 
he  submitted  his  projet,  and  Mr.  Adams  on  the 
13th  responded  by  a  counter  projet.  At  this 
point  Mr.  Hyde  de  Meuville,  the  French  Minis- 
ter, at  the  request  of  Mr.  Onis,  "  confined  by  in- 
disposition," had  an  interview  with  Mr.  Adams, 
and  a  full  and  free  discussion  of  the  two projets. 
Explanations  and  modifications  were  made,  and 
on  February  22,  1819,  was  signed  in  Washing- 
ton "a  Treaty  of  Amity,  Settlement,  and  Lim- 
its," which  provided  for  the  cession  of  Florida 
and  "the  reciprocal  renunciation  of  certain 
claims  as  adjusted  by  a  joint  commission."  The 
commissioner  had  power  to  decide  conclusively 


214  Appendix  D. 

upon  the  amount  and  validity  of  claims,  but  not 
upon  the  conflicting  rights  of  parties  to  the 
sums  awarded  by  them.  Comegys  i;.  Yasse, 
1  Peters,  193.  The  spoliation  claims  held  by 
the  United  States  against  Spain  were  renounced, 
and  the  United  States  undertook  to  make  satis- 
faction for  the  same  to  the  amount  of  five  mill- 
ions of  dollars. 

The  Rio  Grande  contention  was  given  up,  a 
majority  of  the  Cabinet  overruling  Mr.  Adams, 
and  holding  that  the  immediate  acquisition  of 
Florida  was  too  important  to  be  jeoparded,  or 
"clogged  by  debatable  demands  for  territory 
to  the  south-west."  The  intervening  neutral 
territory,  the  uninhabited  desert,  the  impassa- 
ble barrier  between  the  two  countries,  which 
for  so  many  years  and  so  often  was  proposed 
and  relied  upon  to  prevent  conflict  of  jurisdic- 
tion and  of  people,  seems  to  have  been  quietly 
ignored.  The  Louisiana  boundary  was  settled 
by  following  the  Sabine,  Red,  and  Arkansas  riv- 
ers as  far  westward  as  the  4 2d  degree  of  north 
latitude  and  pursuing  that  degree  to  the  Pacific 
Ocean.*     In  settling  disputed  boundaries,  and, 

*  The  conflicting  claim  of  title  to  territory  between  Texas 
and  the  United  States  (see  President's  Proclamation  of  De- 
cember 30, 1887)  grows  out  of  the  terms  of  this  fixing  the 
boundary  line  between  tlie  two  countries. 


Appendix  D.  215 

in  fact,  in  making  this  treaty,  the  United  States 
did  not  assent  to  the  claim  of  sovereignty  or 
ownership  over  the  territory  between  the  Mis- 
sissippi and  the  Perdido.  Both  legislative  and 
executive  departments  of  the  Government,  prior 
to  1819,  treated  territory  west  of  the  Perdido  as 
part  of  the  territory  acquired  from  France  in 
1803,  and  in  Pollard  v.  Files,  the  Supreme  Court 
declared  as  the  settled  doctrine  of  the  judicial 
department  of  the  Government  that  the  treaty 
of  1819  ceded  no  territory  west  of  the  Perdido 
River.* 

The  United  States  exonerated  Spain  from  all 
demands  in  the  future  on  account  of  the  claims 
of  her  citizens,  and  undertook  to  make  satisfac- 
tion for  the  same  to  an  amount  not  exceeding 
five  millions  of  dollars.  It  is  commonly  stated 
that  the  United  States  purchased  Florida  for 
that  sum  of  money.  In  the  negotiation  the 
Spanish  Minister  objected  to  the  article  stipu- 
lating for  the  payment,  on  the  ground  that  it 
would  appear  from  it  that  in  consideration  of 
that  amount  Spain  had  ceded  the  two  Floridas 
and  other  territories,  when  she  would  not  have 
ceded  them  for  $20,000,000  but  for  her  desire 

*  2  Howard,  591 ;  Foster  v.  Neilson,  2  Peters,  253 ;  Garcia 
V.Lee,  2  Id.,  515. 


216  Appendix  D, 

to  arrange  and  terminate  all  differences  with 
the  United  States.*  In  1805,  Monroe  and  Pinck- 
ney,  in  their  proposal  to  the  Spanish  Govern- 
ment for  the  cession  of  Florida,  said  that  Flor- 
ida was  not  valuable  for  its  land,  and  suggested 
that  the  sum  paid  "  for  the  whole  of  the  prov- 
ince of  Louisiana  furnished  a  just  and  suitable 
standard"  as  to  what  would  be  proper  in  pay- 
ing for  Florida.  The  area  of  Florida  is  56,680 
square  miles,  and  Mr.  Jefferson  paid  $15,000,000 
for  all  the  country  west  of  the  Mississippi  not 
occupied  by  Spain,  as  far  north  as  the  British 
territory,  and  comprising,  wholly  or  in  part,  the 
present  States  of  Arkansas,  Kansas,  Missouri, 
Iowa,  Minnesota,  Nebraska,  Oregon,  and  Colo- 
rado, and  the  Indian  Territory  and  tlie  Territo- 
ries of  Dakota,  Idaho,  Montana,  Washington, 
and  Wyoming. 

The  treaty,  submitted  to  the  Senate  on  the 
day  it  was  signed,  was  at  once  unanimously  rat- 
ified, thus  giving  additional  lustre  to  the  birth- 
day of  Washington.  Before  the  adjournment 
of  Congress,  acts  were  passed  authorizing  the 


*  111  a  memoir  on  the  negptiation,  published  by  Onis  in 
1820,  he  sought  to  show  that  the  treaty  of  cession  ought  to 
be  considered  as  a  treaty  of  exchange  of  Florida  for  Texas, 
a  country  more  extensive,  fertile,  and  valuable. 


Appen  dix  D,  217 

establishing  of  local  governments  over  the  ac- 
quired territory.  John  Forsyth,  of  Georgia, 
was  appointed  Minister  to  Spain,  and  he  carried 
with  liim  a  copy  of  the  treaty  and  minute  in- 
structions as  to  the  exchange  of  ratifications.*  \ 
So  confident  was  the  Government  of  early  ac- ! 
tion,  the  Hornet^  which  carried  Mr.  Forsyth,  was 
ordered  to  remain  at  Cadiz  a  sufficient  length  of 
time  to  carry  back  the  ratified  copy.  So  anx- 
ious and  so  certain  of  speedy  assent  were  the 
authorities  at  Washington,  instructions  were 
sent  to  Mr.  Erving  that  it  might  be  expedient 
for  him  to  exchange  the  ratifications,  if  by  any 
accident  the  formal  reception  of  Forsyth  should 
be  delayed  "  beyond  a  very  few  days."  Fear- 
ing the  absence  of  Mr.  Erving,  on  account  of 
the  infirm  state  of  his  health,  or  the  non-arrival 
of  Mr.  Forsyth,  a  special  messenger,  with  dupli- 
cate copies  of  treaty  and  instructions,  was  sent 
to  Mr.  Thomas  L.  L.  Brent,  the  Secretary  of  Le- 
gation, so  that  he  might  exchange  the  ratifica- 
tions.    After  this  twenty  years  of  negotiation 

*  Mr.  Forsyth  was  instructed  to  preserve  the  riglit  of  the 
United  States  to  the  alternative  of  being  first  named  and  of 
the  representative  to  sign  first.  In  the  counterpart,  the  otlier 
nation  has  the  hlie  privilege.  In  1815,  Great  Britain  claimed 
as  a  precedent  a  previous  waiver  of  this  international  practice 
by  tlie  United  States,  but  it  was  withdrawn. 


218  Appendix  D. 

it  was  supposed  that  the  trouble  was  ended;  but 
he  who  measures  a  Spaniard  by  the  ordinary 
standard  will  find  himself,  in  the  end,  griev- 
ously disappointed. 

Long  experience  has  been  condensed  into  a 
popular  proverb,  Del  dicho  al  hecho  va  mucho 
trecho — From  the  saying  to  the  doing  is  a  great 
distance.  The  Hornet  returned  in  the  summer, 
not  with  the  ratification,  but  with  recrimina- 
tory despatches  because  of  the  unexpected  and 
inexcusable  delay.  Spain  did  not  give  her  as- 
sent. She  offered  various  evasive  excuses  and 
pretexts.  She  might  promptly  have  disavowed 
the  treaty  as  in  excess  of  her  instructions.  She 
did  not.  She  consented  to  the  negotiations.  She 
knew  what  had  been  done,  and  seven  months 
passed  before  she  uttered  a  word  of  complaint. 
When  it  became  known  that  Spain  refused  to 
confirm  the  contract  and  interposed  frivolous 
excuses  for  her  conduct,  much  indignation  was 
aroused,  and  harsh  measures  had  advocacy  in 
the  press  and  in  Congress.  It  was  well  said 
the  cession  was  no  new  thing,  and  that  the 
agreement,  from  preliminary  steps  to  final  con- 
summation, was  as  well  known  in  Madrid  as 
in  Washington,  at  least  so  far  as  substance 
was  concerned.  President  Monroe  said  in  his 
message  that  Spain  had  formed  a  relation  be- 


Appendix  D,  219 

tween  the  two  countries  which  would  justify- 
any  measures  on  the  part  of  the  United  States 
which  a  strong  sense  of  injury  and  a  proper  re- 
gard for  the  rights  and  interests  of  the  nation 
might  dictate.  Adams  contended  that  Spain 
was  under  obligations  of  honor  and  good  faith  ; 
and  in  a  letter  to  the  chairman  of  the  Commit- 
tee of  Foreign  Relations,  Mr.  Lowndes,  of  South 
Carolina — author  of  the  phrase,  "  I  had  rather 
be  right  than  be  President " — asserted  the  "per- 
fect right "  of  the  Government  to  compel  a  spe- 
cific performance  of  the  engagement  and  secure 
indemnity  for  the  expenses  and  damages  which 
grew  out  of  the  refusal  of  Spain  to  ratify.  In- 
temperance of  language  and  proposal  was  met 
by  wise  counsel,  and  the  proposed  immediate 
military  occupation  was  defeated.  After  weary 
years  of  patience  and  of  earnest  effort  to  avoid 
war,  very  fortunately  the  country  was  not  pre- 
cipitated into  it  by  the  hot  heads  and  Hotspurs. 
It  was  well  determined  to  await  the  logic  of 
events,  and  not  hazard  the  gaining  of  what 
must  surely,  like  ripe  fruit,  fall  into  our  hands. 
General  Jackson  once  said,  "  Geography  con- 
trols my  politics,"  and  so  the  geographical  po- 
sition of  Florida  made  it  inevitably  a  part  of 
the  Union.  Count  Aranda,  when  he  was  Prime- 
minister  of  Spain,  as  far  back  as  1783,  distinctly 


220  Appendix  D, 

foresaw  and  acknowledged  the  necessity  of  the 
acquisition. 

The  irritation  felt  at  the  repudiation  of  a  sol- 
emn international  compact  excited  general  at- 
tention, and  it  was  felt  that  a  war  might  produce 
grave  international  complications,  and  transfer 
not  only  Florida  but  Cuba  and  Texas  also  to 
the  United  States.  France  and  Great  Britain 
remonstrated  with  Spain,  and  she  realized  that 
the  temporizing  and  procrastinating  policy  must 
give  way  to  positive  and  definite  action.  On 
the  24th  of  October,  1820,  the  Cortes  having 
previously  authorized  and  advised,  the  King, 
Ferdinand  YIL,  approved  and  ratified  the 
treaty.  Such  was  the  slowness  of  communica- 
tion in  those  days,  that  four  months  elapsed 
before  the  ratification  w^as  known  in  Washing- 
ton. (I  have  received  instructions  from  the 
State  Department  by  post  in  eleven  days.)  The 
time  fixed  for  joint  ratification,  six  months,  hav- 
ing expired,  the  treaty  was  resubmitted  to  the 
Senate,  and  ratified  a  second  time,  February 
19,  1821.  On  the  22d — again  connecting  the 
hallowed  day  with  Florida — the  House  of  Rep- 
resentatives gave  their  assent  to  the  necessary 
legislation. 

Thus  an  acquisition  long  sought  for,  essential 
to  our  internal  quiet  and  to  save  us  from  for- 


Appendix  D,  221 

eign  intermeddlings,  strifes,  and  conspiracies, 
was  consummated.  For  nearly  a  quarter  of  a 
century  the  negotiations  were  pursued  in  Spain 
or  in  Washington  —  sometimes  interrupted  by 
fretful  suspension  of  diplomatic  intercourse,  by 
the  revolutionary  disturbances  in  Spain,  by  Eng- 
lish and  French  wars,  by  Spanish  tenacity  for 
American  possessions,  and  the  incurable  pro- 
pensity not  to  do  to-day  what  can  be  deferred 
until  to-morrow.  No  one  can  read  the  corre- 
spondence in  full  without  a  high  appreciation 
of  the  patriotism  and  ability  of  Madison,  Mon- 
roe, Pinckney,  Adams,  and  Erving.  Their  State 
papers  show  patience,  forbearance,  courtesy, 
dignity,  tact,  power  of  argument,  familiarity 
with  international  jurisprudence,  and  intense 
loyalty  to  our  institutions.  It  is  not  easy  to 
comprehend  the  disadvantages  under  which  our 
able  negotiators  labored  in  the  earlier  periods 
of  our  history,  when  our  rights  as  a  member  of 
the  family  of  nations  were  ignored  or  grudg- 
ingly conceded.  The  credit  of  the  Florida  suc- 
cess is  enhanced  when  we  consider  the  personal 
and  national  characteristics  of  the  Spaniards. 
With  unquestioned  courage,  chivalry,  scrupu- 
lous observance  of  etiquette,  they  are  vain, 
proud,  sensitive,  distrustful  of  foreigners,  obsti- 
nate in  their  opinions,  and  possessed  of  a  most 


222  Appendix  D, 

patience -wearing  disposition  to  procrastinate. 
The  stoical  fatalism  of  the  Moor  seems  in  some 
of  its  forms  to  have  been  bequeathed  to  his  con- 
queror. 

This  protracted  negotiation  is  a  noble  tribute 
to  American  diplomacy.  The  general  public 
sees  the  external  work,  the  fina^  result,  the  act- 
ors in  the  last  scene  of  the  historic  drama,  and 
is  ignorant  or  unobservant  of  the  quiet  secre- 
tary or  Minister,  in  his  office,  at  official  inter- 
views, in  social  intercourse,  watching  for  oppor- 
tunities, seizing  propitious  occasions,  removing 
prejudices,  presenting  arguments  in  every  pos- 
sible aspect,  and  removing  Protean  objections. 
It  is  he  who  prepares  for  the  ultimate  victory. 
George  W.  Erving,  far  away  in  Madrid,  did 
more  to  acquire  Florida  than  every  senator 
who  voted  to  ratify  the  treaty.  It  is  a  pleas- 
ant reflection  and  honoring  to  our  country  and 
civilization  that  although  we  were  often  on  the 
ragged  edge  of  war,  yet  without  a  drop  of  blood 
the  question  was  settled,  boundaries  were  de- 
termined, conflicting  claims  were  adjusted,  and 
a  large  territory  was  added  to  our  national  do- 
main. 

THE    END. 


THEIR  PILGEIMAGE. 

By  Charles  Dudley  Wakner.  Richly  Illustrated  by 
C.  S.  Reinhart.  pp.  viii.,  364.  8vo,  Half  Leather, 
$2  00. 


Aside  from  the  delicions  etory— its  wonderful  portrnitnres  of  char- 
acter and  its  dramatic  development— the  book  is  precious  to  all  who 
know  anything  about  the  great  American  watering-places,  for  it  con- 
tains iucomparabie  descriptions  of  those  famous  resorts  and  their 
frequenters.  Even  without  the  aid  of  Mr.  Reinhart's  brilliant  draw- 
ings, Mr.  Warner  conjures  up  word-pictures  of  Cape  May,  Newport, 
Saratoga,  Lake  George,  Richfield  Springs,  Niagara,  the  White  Mount- 
ains, and  all  the  rest,  which  strike  the  eye  like  photographs,  so  clear 
is  every  outline.  Rut  Mr.  Reinhart's  designs  fit  into  the  text  so 
closely  that  we  could  not  bear  to  part  with  a  single  one  of  them. 
*' Their  Pilgrimage"  is  destined,  for  an  indefinite  succession  of  sum- 
mers, to  be  a  ruling  fiivorlte  with  all  visitors  of  the  mountains,  the 
beaches,  and  the  spas.— iV.  Y.  Journal  of  Commerce. 

The  author  touches  the  canvas  here  and  there  with  lines  of  color 
that  fix  and  identify  American  character.  Herein  is  the  real  charm 
for  those  who  like  it  best,  and  for  this  one  may  anticipate  that  it  will 
be  one  of  the  prominent  books  of  the  time.  Of  the  fancy  and  humor 
of  Mr.  Warner,  which  in  witchery  of  their  play  and  power  are  quite 
independent  of  this  or  that  subject,  there  is  nothing  to  add.  But  ac- 
knowledgment is  due  Mr.  Reinhart  for  nearly  eighty  finely  conceived 
drawings. — Boston  Globe. 

No  more  entertaining  travelling  companions  for  a  tour  of  pleasure 
resorts  could  be  wished  for  than  those  who  in  Mr.  Warner's  pages 
chat  and  lauL'h,  and  skim  the  cream  of  all  the  enjoyment  to  be  found 
from  Mount  Washington  to  the  Sulphur  Springs.  .  .  .  His  pen-pictures 
of  the  characters  typical  of  each  resort,  of  the  manner  of  life  followed 
at  each,  of  *he  humor  and  absurdities  peculiar  to  Saratoga,  or  New- 
port, or  Bar  Harbor,  as  the  case  may  be,  are  as  good-natured  as  they 
are  clever.  The  satire,  when  there  is  any,  is  of  the  mildest,  and  the 
general  tone  is  that  of  one  glad  to  look  on  the  brightest  side  of  the 
cheerful,  pleasure-seeking  world  with  which  he  mingles.  ...  In  Mr. 
Reinhart  the  author  has  an  assistant  who  has  done  with  his  pencil 
almost  exactly  what  Mr.  Warner  has  accomplished  with  his  pen. — 
Christian  Union,  N.  Y. 


Published  by  HARPER  &  BROTHERS,  New  York. 

I^~  The  above  work  sent  by  mail,  postage  prepaid,  to  any  part  of  the 
United  States  or  Canada,  on  receipt  of  the  price. 


BEN-HUE:  A  TALE  OF  THE  CHEIST. 

By  Lew.  Wallace.    Kew  Edition  from  New  Electrotype 
Plates,     pp.  560.    16mo,  Cloth,  $1  50;  Half  Calf,  $3  00. 


Anything  so  startling,  new,  and  distinctive  as  the  leading  feature  of 
this  romance  does  not  often  appear  in  works  of  fiction.  .  .  .  Some  of 
Mr.  Wallace's  writing  is  remarkable  for  its  pathetic  eloquence.  The 
scenes  described  in  the  New  Testament  are  re-written  with  the  power 
and  skill  of  an  accomplished  master  of  style. — .V.  Y.  Times. 

Its  real  basis  is  a  description  of  the  life  of  the  Jews  and  Romans  at 
the  beginning  of  the  Christian  era,  and  this  is  both  forcible  and  brill- 
iant. .  .  .  We  are  carried  through  a  surprising  variety  of  scenes;  we 
witness  a  sea-fight,  a  chariot-race,  the  internal  economy  of  a  Roman 
galley,  domestic  interiors  at  Antioch,  at  Jerusalem,  and  among  the 
tribes  of  the  desert;  palaces,  prisons,  the  haunts  of  dissipated  Roman 
youth,  the  houses  of  pious  families  of  Israel.  There  is  plenty  of  ex- 
citing incident;  everything  is  animated,  vivid,  and  glowing.— iV.  Y. 
Tribune. 

From  the  opening  of  the  volume  to  the  very  close  the  reader's  in- 
terest will  be  kept  at  the  highest  pitch,  and  the  novel  will  be  pro- 
nounced by  all  one  of  the  greatest  novels  of  the  day.— Boston  Post. 

It  is  full  of  poetic  beauty,  as  though  born  of  an  Eastern  sage,  and 
there  is  sufficient  of  Oriental  customs,  geography,  nomenclature,  etc., 
to  greatly  strengthen  the  semblance. — Boston  Commonwealth. 

"  Ben-IIur"  is  interesting,  and  its  characterization  is  fine  and  strong. 
Meanwhile  it  evinces  careful  study  of  the  period  in  which  the  scene  is 
laid,  and  will  help  those  who  read  it  with  reasonable  attention  to  real- 
ize the  nature  and  conditions  of  Hebrew  life  in  Jerusalem  and  Ro- 
man life  at  Antioch  at  the  time  of  our  Saviour's  £(^yQi\i.— Examiner, 
N.  Y. 

It  is  really  Scripture  history  of  Christ's  time,  clothed  gracefully  and 
delicately  in  the  flowing  and  loose  drapery  of  modern  fiction.  .  . .  Few 
late  works  of  fiction  excel  it  in  genuine  ability  and  interest.— xV.  Y, 
Graphic. 

One  of  the  most  remarkable  and  delightful  books.  It  is  as  real  and 
M'arm  as  life  itself,  and  as  attractive  as  the  grandest  and  most  heroic 
chapters  of  history. — Indianapolia  Journal. 

The  book  is  one  of  unquestionable  power,  and  will  be  read  with  un- 
wonted interest  by  many  readers  who  are  weary  of  the  conventional 
novel  and  romance.— Z>oston  Journal. 


Published  by  HARPER  &  BROTHERS,  New  York. 

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